Eliane Glaser, Pragya Agarwal and Melissa Hogenboom offer challenging responses to the contradictions of so many parenting guides
The theme of the indignities of post-feminist motherhood is always fresh. And yet the past year seems to have rendered the wound more raw than ever. Eliane Glaser’s Motherhood: A Manifesto has already generated social media coverage galore for the assertions that “motherhood is the unfinished business of feminism” and “the cult of the perfect mother must end”. Who would disagree with these statements? But these things need saying and loudly, especially when “the pandemic is amplifying bias against working mothers”, to quote a recent typical headline.
And yet what are the solutions on offer that haven’t already been proposed decades ago by, say, Betty Friedan or Simone de Beauvoir, both, happily, quoted here? Glaser homes in on the awkward truths: “Modern motherhood somehow manages to demean women while simultaneously raising the stakes.” “For too long, the injustices of modern motherhood have been concealed by anxiety and guilt.” “… fathers’ participation has flat-lined…” But is there much “manifesto” in Motherhood: A Manifesto (ie instruction rather than insight)? Arguably not. This is more exploration and truth-telling. But when it’s so well written and well argued, who cares?
