Wary of pigeonholing herself, Garbes wasn’t exactly keen on following up her frank, what-you-really-need to-know-about-pregnancy book Like a Mother (2018) with another memoirish, mother-themed nonfiction book. Garbes has nursed the essay into a new book, Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change, set to publish May 10, on the heels of Mother’s Day (reminder: this Sunday) and coinciding with Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The essay ricocheted across the internet, as many women (including Melinda French Gates and Elizabeth Warren) shared it - and shared in Garbes’ frustration. “I have essentially dropped out of the workforce and been absorbed into housework and caring for my children, where there are no wages, no protections, no upward path, just a repetitive circle,” Garbes wrote. The 1,294 words she did end up writing, in the form of a viral New York Magazine story about how the pandemic pushed millions of people (mostly women, many of whom were Black and brown and/or mothers) out of the workforce, tapped into this well of grief.
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