What do you think?
Rate this book
A Woman's Work: Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering
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.
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.
415 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 12, 2026
38 people are currently reading
8058 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 30, 2026
In a Nutshell: Not a book about ‘mothering’ but about ‘motherhood’. Informative, but slightly dense at times. Recommended to those more interested into seeing how perceptions about pregnancy, midwifery and the like have evolved through the ages.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The tagline says this book is about ‘Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering’. Dictionaries define ‘mothering’ as the activity of caring for and protecting children or other people. So I picked this book up assuming it to be a depiction of the evolving perceptions of childcare over the centuries. However, the book focuses more on motherhood i.e. the literal act of becoming a mother.
As such, it includes pregnancy, labour, and everything else connected to reproduction post-conception. It does fair justice to these topics, beginning from mothers in mythology, and moving steadily down the centuries covering religious beliefs, social expectations from women about motherhood, patriarchal dominance, midwifery, postpartum psychosis, and so on. It also includes biographies of some pioneering women. A major part of the content is historical.
As the book went in a different direction, I thought that once it was done with the topics related to conception, pregnancy, and postpartum experiences, it would move to ‘mothering’. But no, mothering just doesn’t come up. I feel… cheated, I guess?
Those who want to read a book on the changing perception of women from being reproductive vessels to being individuals with rights (Assuming that we have more rights these days! 😑) will find this an informative book, though a bit dry and dense at times. But ‘mothering’ is what was promised by the tagline and what I picked the book up for, and the book didn’t give me that. 🤷🏻♀️
3.5 stars.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I follow the Goodreads rating policy:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Lifelong favourite!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I loved the book.
⭐⭐⭐ - I liked the book.
⭐⭐ - I found the book average.
⭐ - I hated the book.
The decimals indicate the degree of the in-between feelings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Facebook ||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The tagline says this book is about ‘Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering’. Dictionaries define ‘mothering’ as the activity of caring for and protecting children or other people. So I picked this book up assuming it to be a depiction of the evolving perceptions of childcare over the centuries. However, the book focuses more on motherhood i.e. the literal act of becoming a mother.
As such, it includes pregnancy, labour, and everything else connected to reproduction post-conception. It does fair justice to these topics, beginning from mothers in mythology, and moving steadily down the centuries covering religious beliefs, social expectations from women about motherhood, patriarchal dominance, midwifery, postpartum psychosis, and so on. It also includes biographies of some pioneering women. A major part of the content is historical.
As the book went in a different direction, I thought that once it was done with the topics related to conception, pregnancy, and postpartum experiences, it would move to ‘mothering’. But no, mothering just doesn’t come up. I feel… cheated, I guess?
Those who want to read a book on the changing perception of women from being reproductive vessels to being individuals with rights (Assuming that we have more rights these days! 😑) will find this an informative book, though a bit dry and dense at times. But ‘mothering’ is what was promised by the tagline and what I picked the book up for, and the book didn’t give me that. 🤷🏻♀️
3.5 stars.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I follow the Goodreads rating policy:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Lifelong favourite!
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I loved the book.
⭐⭐⭐ - I liked the book.
⭐⭐ - I found the book average.
⭐ - I hated the book.
The decimals indicate the degree of the in-between feelings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Facebook ||
March 25, 2026
I was very excited about this book! A few chapters in however I wondered why I was feeling frustrated and I realized that I kept expecting a history of motherhood and instead what I was getting was a history of.., procreation. Once I’d noticed that the research was about everything that had to do with everything related to pregnancy, birthing, early postpartum, midwifery… I kept waiting for the parts about MOTHERING to come up and… they never came. I even wondered if the author had initially written a history of biological reproduction or giving birth and that her publisher had forced her to rebrand and she didn’t have the wherewithal to protest? It made me furious. It made me even MORE furious when at the veeeeery end of the book the author talks about the damages of the Natalist ideology without once once of consciousness about the fact that the book she’s just written participates in that discourse! It made me angry. And then it made me immensely sad.
April 1, 2026
I was invited to read/review this by the publisher [Dutton, Plume, Tiny Reparations Books/Dutton], and I thank them, Elinor Cleghorn, and NetGalley for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
i appreciate this book. The history and information about women throughout history educated me. I had to read in small bursts because the information is dense and I needed time to process what I was reading. This is not a fast read. Still worth reading.
March 30, 2026
Fascinating. Depressing. 3
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is an intellectually rich, deeply researched examination of motherhood as a political, historical, and cultural force rather than a purely private experience.
Cleghorn traces a powerful chronology of womanhood and mothering, weaving together medical history, feminist theory, and lived experience. Much of the history she excavates is jaw-dropping—yet depressingly unsurprising; particularly in how women’s pain, labor, and autonomy have been systematically minimized or erased. What I appreciated most was the way Cleghorn situates motherhood within a wider feminist archive, drawing on an impressive range of texts that invite further reading rather than presenting this book as a closed argument.
That said, this is not an especially accessible read. At times, the book veers into tangents that are difficult to follow, and its academic tone—while intellectually rewarding—may feel dense or alienating to readers expecting a more narrative-driven or popular nonfiction approach. This is a book that reads closer to an academic paper than a conventional nonfiction work, which I experienced as both a strength and a limitation.
Ultimately, this book will not be for everyone but for readers interested in feminist history, maternal theory, and the politics of care, it is a vital and thought-provoking contribution. I finished it not only more informed, but with an expanded reading list and a deeper intellectual appreciation for the radical histories of mothering.
Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
Cleghorn traces a powerful chronology of womanhood and mothering, weaving together medical history, feminist theory, and lived experience. Much of the history she excavates is jaw-dropping—yet depressingly unsurprising; particularly in how women’s pain, labor, and autonomy have been systematically minimized or erased. What I appreciated most was the way Cleghorn situates motherhood within a wider feminist archive, drawing on an impressive range of texts that invite further reading rather than presenting this book as a closed argument.
That said, this is not an especially accessible read. At times, the book veers into tangents that are difficult to follow, and its academic tone—while intellectually rewarding—may feel dense or alienating to readers expecting a more narrative-driven or popular nonfiction approach. This is a book that reads closer to an academic paper than a conventional nonfiction work, which I experienced as both a strength and a limitation.
Ultimately, this book will not be for everyone but for readers interested in feminist history, maternal theory, and the politics of care, it is a vital and thought-provoking contribution. I finished it not only more informed, but with an expanded reading list and a deeper intellectual appreciation for the radical histories of mothering.
Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I requested this book on NetGalley when I saw the subtitle. I knew that the author would most likely be coming from a very different viewpoint than myself, but I was interested to read about the mothering through the centuries. As a historian, the author walks through human history, but centers women in the narrative she tells. Far from ignoring the pivotal moments of the past, the author points to the all-important role women played as they carried, gave birth to, and reared each generation of humanity. We get to hear how different cultures approached pregnancy, labor, childbirth, & mothering those children. From the early Minoan childbirth rituals to the modern era, we see the variety of philosophies that have influenced the occupation of mothering. One part that I found particularly interesting was the contrasts even within a movement. History is full of nuances, and Cleghorn does her best to allow for those. It is hard to completely strip away our biases, and this book is no different. However, the author does draw from a wide range of history's mothers--from Mary to Anne Bradstreet to Mary Wollstonecraft to Sojourner Truth. I definitely came away with a broader understanding of what mothering has meant to the women who have gone before me. And it's reminded me that not every mother's journey will look the same, but we have so many threads that connect us.
March 24, 2026
As if I needed more reasons to be annoyed at the patriarchy… ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Really interesting read. Such a fascinating historical look at feminism, motherhood, and the way women’s bodies have been understood over time or misunderstood in many cases.
As a midwifery lecturer I found this especially engaging. The parts about Hippocrates and early medical views were both fascinating and frustrating, and you can really see how many patriarchal ideas about women’s bodies go back a long way. It was also really interesting reading about how birth and women’s health moved from being part of women’s knowledge and community into something taken over by medicine and a movement to pathogenesis.
I really liked the discussion about midwifery, where it sits between art and science and the true value of being with woman. You can see those origins so clearly in the history, and it made me think a lot about how the role has changed but also how some of those tensions are still there now and arguably becoming worse in recent history.
Very well researched. Not always an easy listen, but really thought-provoking and definitely one I’m glad I read.
Really interesting read. Such a fascinating historical look at feminism, motherhood, and the way women’s bodies have been understood over time or misunderstood in many cases.
As a midwifery lecturer I found this especially engaging. The parts about Hippocrates and early medical views were both fascinating and frustrating, and you can really see how many patriarchal ideas about women’s bodies go back a long way. It was also really interesting reading about how birth and women’s health moved from being part of women’s knowledge and community into something taken over by medicine and a movement to pathogenesis.
I really liked the discussion about midwifery, where it sits between art and science and the true value of being with woman. You can see those origins so clearly in the history, and it made me think a lot about how the role has changed but also how some of those tensions are still there now and arguably becoming worse in recent history.
Very well researched. Not always an easy listen, but really thought-provoking and definitely one I’m glad I read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2026
“[ T] here is no limit to women’s power,”
If you are interested in an overview of women's history through the lens of motherhood throughout centuries, I recommend this book. By no means is it comprehensive but it does offer insight and historical context to some of the challenges and prejudices that women face to this day. I think it also does a great job of including information on intersectionality and how some women's suffragette movement left Black and Brown women out.
Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for the eGalley/ARC of this book.
If you are interested in an overview of women's history through the lens of motherhood throughout centuries, I recommend this book. By no means is it comprehensive but it does offer insight and historical context to some of the challenges and prejudices that women face to this day. I think it also does a great job of including information on intersectionality and how some women's suffragette movement left Black and Brown women out.
Thank you to Dutton and NetGalley for the eGalley/ARC of this book.
March 28, 2026
Intro: this author did not study the Spartans 😅 Can't wait to find out why she's so hateful, but sincerely, I hope the tone changes...
Spoiler alert: it doesn't. What victims she thinks mothers are- which is the opposite of the truth! Mothers are incredible, warriors, givers of life. Now more than ever we have more resources, access to other mothers, and the ability to learn any topic as deeply as we care to. Where is the victimhood in that? I see only strength and I wish she touched on that topic even half as much as she waxed on about the woes of motherhood.
Spoiler alert: it doesn't. What victims she thinks mothers are- which is the opposite of the truth! Mothers are incredible, warriors, givers of life. Now more than ever we have more resources, access to other mothers, and the ability to learn any topic as deeply as we care to. Where is the victimhood in that? I see only strength and I wish she touched on that topic even half as much as she waxed on about the woes of motherhood.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 4, 2026
I consider myself to be a liberated person, I'm a female boomer, raised two children as a working (outside the home) single parent. Despite this I was often astounded by the evidence of the subjugation of women throughout know history. The "state" religious factions and society convinced & continue to convince women that their most fulfilling role in life is to bear children.
At times I found the narrative repetitious but never the less I would urge both men & women to read this book.
Jacqui
Methley Book Club
At times I found the narrative repetitious but never the less I would urge both men & women to read this book.
Jacqui
Methley Book Club
March 30, 2026
Brilliant, very well researched, if at times slightly too dense and academic-leaning. I was fascinated by the very early chapters and then by how midwifery came to be (or basically always existed in some way). I loved reading about the first women who actually wrote about motherhood all those years ago! The conclusion was a great place to finish, wrap up and I appreciated the author's personal story woven into it too.
April 5, 2026
DNF for now at Part Two on page 83. I thought I’d find this empowering, and I’m sure it will get there. But for now it’s just bumming me out. An important history to be sure and very interesting so far. I’ll return to this at some point.
April 3, 2026
Very informative and fascinating! The author writes about motherhood through different historical time periods. A bit dense at times, but I enjoyed it for the most part.
April 3, 2026
Very well researched medical and sociological history of birth and motherhood from earliest known history (Mesopotamia) to the modern era in the western world.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews