The terrain of mothering is not limited to the people who give birth to children; it is not defined by gender.
-- Angela Garbes (Introduction)

Importance: In this moment from Garbes's introduction, she establishes her reasons for writing Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change. After publishing her first book on pregnancy, Garbes believed that she was finished writing about motherhood. However, in this moment, she admits that she had a new revelation on the subject which she endeavors to explore within the pages of Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change. Indeed, this moment might be identified as Garbes's overarching thesis statement. Throughout the entirety of the text, Garbes endeavors to prove that mothering is not in fact limited to neoliberal nuclear family models in which mothering and caretaking are inherently feminine and domestic tasks. Within each chapter of the text, Garbes provides a litany of examples of the ways in which mothering might apply to...