Structure

Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change is organized into an introduction and two overarching sections. Part I, “A Personal History of Mothering in America,” contains four chapters appearing in the following order: “Mothering as Survival,” “Mothering as Valuable Labor,” “Mothering as Erotic Labor,” and “Mothering as Human Interdependence. Part II, “Exploring Mothering as Social Change,” contains five chapters appearing in the following order: “Mothering Insists on Worthiness,” “Mothering as Encouraging Appetites,” “Mothering Toward Movement,” “Mothering for Pleasure,” and “Mothering as Natural Interdependence.” The arrangement and titles of each of these chapters is essential to understanding the author’s overarching thematic explorations. In her introduction, Garbes explains that in “the first part of this book, I explore how we got to where we are today: a wealthy country with an invaluable force of women . . . performing our most important work for free or at poverty wages” (12). She then explains...