Summary

In her Foreword, Barbara Ehrenreich asks readers to abandon their "stereotypes of domestic workers, single parents, and media-derived images of poverty" in order to enter the world of author Stephanie Land (Loc 50). Ehrenreich foreshadows Land's struggles to provide for her young daughter while working as a maid in a society that overlooks these kinds of workers and looks down upon them on the rare occasions when they are acknowledged. Ehrenreich writes about the difficulty of Land's work, as well as the challenges of trying to survive on government assistance, with a particular focus on "class prejudice" inflicted "especially on manual laborers" (Loc 69). Ehrenreich outlines Land's physical, psychological, and emotional struggles while promising readers a happy ending. She also writes about how she met Land as part of the Economic Hardship Reporting Program, which she founded. To conclude, Ehrenreich asks readers to reflect on how...