A Woman’s Work
Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering
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A Woman’s Work
Narrated by:
Hanako Footman
Pre-order for $37.98
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Narrated by:
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Hanako Footman
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By:
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Elinor Cleghorn
About this listen
In A Woman's Work, Elinor Cleghorn reveals the mothers, othermothers, midwives, activists, and community leaders who have shaped this extraordinary history. They include Hildegard of Bingen, the medieval nun and mystic with pioneering views about the maternal body; Mary Wollstonecraft, who laid the intellectual groundwork to release motherhood from male control; and Sojourner Truth, who drew attention to the abhorrent treatment of mothers under chattel slavery.
Beginning in the ancient world, we learn how in each era, the patriarchy constructed its own idealised notion of motherhood - from the misogynistic dogma of the early church and the stigmatisation of single mothers in 17th century England all the way through to the post-war myth of the perfectly contented housewife. But we also learn how mothers of all classes and circumstances fought back, and lobbied to be valued, respected and supported - not as reproductive vessels, but as people.
A Woman's Work is a radical and inspiring new history of mothering, and a timely reminder that the fight for reproductive freedom is far from over.©2026 Elinor Cleghorn (P)2026 Orion Publishing Group Limited
Critic Reviews
An essential history of forgotten lives and labour
A perfectly timed and illuminating triumph that consolidates Cleghorn's place among the foremost voices in medical history
[Written] with robust research and eloquent rage...a timely lesson on the dangers of allowing outdated patriarchal attitudes to shape modern public policy.
This is the book we need right now, freeing motherhood from history's margins and making it the story. From the Bronze Age to the present day, Cleghorn writes about the fight for mothers "to be cared for, respected, supported and heard" and her book does all of this and so much more. Huge in its scope and precise in its research, A Woman's Work is as powerful and astonishing as motherhood itself.
Thoughtful, smart, and, sadly, really bloody urgent. If you like your patriarchal systems dismantled with exquisite research and thoughtful personal reflections you'll want one of these
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