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    A Woman's Work

    Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering

    Author Elinor Cleghorn
    Read by Sarah Slimani
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    On sale Mar 17, 2026 | 12 Hours and 11 Minutes | 9798217016518
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    From the author of Unwell Women comes a powerful and groundbreaking new narrative history of motherhood and mothering.

    Mothers make history. But what it has meant for mothers to do the physical and emotional work of mothering has, for centuries, been neglected in the stories of the past. Patriarchal control of motherhood has relegated the acts of growing, birthing, nurturing, and loving to the sidelines, and deemed it unimportant, women's work. Now, through the voices of women themselves, Elinor Cleghorn reclaims and retells the history of motherhood, showcasing the mothers, othermothers, midwives, activists, community leaders, and more who have shaped the course of history.

    Beginning in the ancient world, we encounter a figurine made for a childbirth ritual over three thousand years ago. We meet extraordinary writers and poets, like Anne Bradstreet and Elizabeth Jocelin, who were expressing their innermost feelings about motherhood. During the seventeenth century, in the streets of London, we encounter unmarried mothers struggling against stigma and shame, and the women who strove to help them. Later, pioneers like Mary Wollstonecraft laid the intellectual foundation for the liberation of motherhood from male control, and the abhorrent treatment of enslaved mothers was brought to public attention by courageous activists like Sojourner Truth. These and many other brave characters lobbied for mothers of all classes and circumstances to be valued, respected, and supported--not as reproductive vessels, but as people.

    *Includes a downloadable PDF of a bibliography and notes from the book
    “A perfectly timed and illuminating triumph that consolidates Cleghorn's place among the foremost voices in medical history.”
    —Lindsey Fitzharris, New York Times bestselling author of The Facemaker

    “An essential history of forgotten lives and labor.”
    —Leah Hazard, author of Womb

    “Mothers may have a special place in our hearts, but they've been robbed of their rightful place in our history. Valued for their wombs—not their minds or talents—for millennia women's bodies were controlled and their lives circumscribed by man-made political, economic, and religious systems designed to silence them in life and erase them for posterity. Now, with robust research and eloquent rage, Elinor Cleghorn digs deep to retrieve the names and restore the accomplishments of the childbearers, midwives, nurturers, and activists who refused to be merely passive ‘vessels’ of procreation, but the builders of civilization. Cleghorn exposes the origins of the power dynamics of motherhood still at work today, providing a timely lesson on the dangers of allowing outdated patriarchal attitudes to shape modern public policy.

    For mom's next gift, skip the hearts and flowers and give a copy of this enlightening, infuriating book.”
    —Elaine Weiss, author of Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools that Built the Civil Rights Movement and The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote

    “Cleghorn takes a sweeping view of motherhood… Impressive research informs a vibrantly detailed history.”
    —Kirkus (starred review)

    “Feminist cultural historian Cleghorn's (Unwell Women, 2021) engaging commentary brings in profiles of historical figures and considerations of period texts, cultural expectations, societal conditions, government campaigns, and social media influences. . . . This call to action offers a thoughtful perspective.”
    —Booklist

    “Beyond being a history of pregnancy, this book is more broadly an analysis of how men have claimed and controlled women’s bodies.”
    —Library Journal
    © Lara Downie
    Elinor Cleghorn is a feminist cultural historian, writer, and researcher living in Sussex. After receiving her PhD in humanities and cultural studies in 2012, she worked for three years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Ruskin School of Art at the University of Oxford on an interdisciplinary arts and medical humanities project. Her writing on women's health and its histories has been published in The Wall Street Journal, BBC History, BBC Science Focus, New Scientist, and Vogue, and she has discussed her research on BBC's Woman's Hour, NPR, and numerous podcasts. Elinor is the author of Unwell Women, which has been translated across the world. View titles by Elinor Cleghorn
    Introduction

    PART 1
    Traces and Rituals: Ninth Century BCE to Fourth Century CE

    1. The Hidden Ones
    2. What Women Knew
    3. Bring It to Birth
    4. Blessed Among Women

    PART 2
    Faith and Fortitude: Ninth to Sixteenth Century

    5. Fragile Labors
    6. Lying‑ In
    7. Unnatural PART 3
    Care and Conviction: Seventeenth to Eighteenth Century

    8. Tender Regard
    9. Quickening Spirit
    10. Want of Care

    PART 4
    Resistance and Reclamation: Eighteenth Century to Present

    11. Twist to a Knot
    12. None but a Mother
    13. Enlightened
    14. Women’s Work
    15. An Intimate History

    Conclusion: Mothering Through It
    Acknowledgments
    Note on Source Material
    Bibliography
    Notes
    Index

    About

    From the author of Unwell Women comes a powerful and groundbreaking new narrative history of motherhood and mothering.

    Mothers make history. But what it has meant for mothers to do the physical and emotional work of mothering has, for centuries, been neglected in the stories of the past. Patriarchal control of motherhood has relegated the acts of growing, birthing, nurturing, and loving to the sidelines, and deemed it unimportant, women's work. Now, through the voices of women themselves, Elinor Cleghorn reclaims and retells the history of motherhood, showcasing the mothers, othermothers, midwives, activists, community leaders, and more who have shaped the course of history.

    Beginning in the ancient world, we encounter a figurine made for a childbirth ritual over three thousand years ago. We meet extraordinary writers and poets, like Anne Bradstreet and Elizabeth Jocelin, who were expressing their innermost feelings about motherhood. During the seventeenth century, in the streets of London, we encounter unmarried mothers struggling against stigma and shame, and the women who strove to help them. Later, pioneers like Mary Wollstonecraft laid the intellectual foundation for the liberation of motherhood from male control, and the abhorrent treatment of enslaved mothers was brought to public attention by courageous activists like Sojourner Truth. These and many other brave characters lobbied for mothers of all classes and circumstances to be valued, respected, and supported--not as reproductive vessels, but as people.

    *Includes a downloadable PDF of a bibliography and notes from the book

    Reviews

    “A perfectly timed and illuminating triumph that consolidates Cleghorn's place among the foremost voices in medical history.”
    —Lindsey Fitzharris, New York Times bestselling author of The Facemaker

    “An essential history of forgotten lives and labor.”
    —Leah Hazard, author of Womb

    “Mothers may have a special place in our hearts, but they've been robbed of their rightful place in our history. Valued for their wombs—not their minds or talents—for millennia women's bodies were controlled and their lives circumscribed by man-made political, economic, and religious systems designed to silence them in life and erase them for posterity. Now, with robust research and eloquent rage, Elinor Cleghorn digs deep to retrieve the names and restore the accomplishments of the childbearers, midwives, nurturers, and activists who refused to be merely passive ‘vessels’ of procreation, but the builders of civilization. Cleghorn exposes the origins of the power dynamics of motherhood still at work today, providing a timely lesson on the dangers of allowing outdated patriarchal attitudes to shape modern public policy.

    For mom's next gift, skip the hearts and flowers and give a copy of this enlightening, infuriating book.”
    —Elaine Weiss, author of Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools that Built the Civil Rights Movement and The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote

    “Cleghorn takes a sweeping view of motherhood… Impressive research informs a vibrantly detailed history.”
    —Kirkus (starred review)

    “Feminist cultural historian Cleghorn's (Unwell Women, 2021) engaging commentary brings in profiles of historical figures and considerations of period texts, cultural expectations, societal conditions, government campaigns, and social media influences. . . . This call to action offers a thoughtful perspective.”
    —Booklist

    “Beyond being a history of pregnancy, this book is more broadly an analysis of how men have claimed and controlled women’s bodies.”
    —Library Journal

    Author

    © Lara Downie
    Elinor Cleghorn is a feminist cultural historian, writer, and researcher living in Sussex. After receiving her PhD in humanities and cultural studies in 2012, she worked for three years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Ruskin School of Art at the University of Oxford on an interdisciplinary arts and medical humanities project. Her writing on women's health and its histories has been published in The Wall Street Journal, BBC History, BBC Science Focus, New Scientist, and Vogue, and she has discussed her research on BBC's Woman's Hour, NPR, and numerous podcasts. Elinor is the author of Unwell Women, which has been translated across the world. View titles by Elinor Cleghorn

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    PART 1
    Traces and Rituals: Ninth Century BCE to Fourth Century CE

    1. The Hidden Ones
    2. What Women Knew
    3. Bring It to Birth
    4. Blessed Among Women

    PART 2
    Faith and Fortitude: Ninth to Sixteenth Century

    5. Fragile Labors
    6. Lying‑ In
    7. Unnatural PART 3
    Care and Conviction: Seventeenth to Eighteenth Century

    8. Tender Regard
    9. Quickening Spirit
    10. Want of Care

    PART 4
    Resistance and Reclamation: Eighteenth Century to Present

    11. Twist to a Knot
    12. None but a Mother
    13. Enlightened
    14. Women’s Work
    15. An Intimate History

    Conclusion: Mothering Through It
    Acknowledgments
    Note on Source Material
    Bibliography
    Notes
    Index

    Additional formats

    Other Books by this Author

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