The Cost of Labour: How we are all trapped by the politics of pregnancy and parenting

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Natalie Kon-yu Natalie

The Cost of Labour

How we are all trapped by the politics of pregnancy and parenting

Natalie Kon-yu, Natalie

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English

Affirm Press
08 February 2022

Memoirs; Australian Society

Natalie Kon-Yu was nine weeks pregnant when the trembling began. Two weeks later she checked herself into a mental health unit. Though she was in crisis, the GPs, nurses and psychiatrists couldn't see beyond Natalie's precious cargo. She was made to feel that her pregnancy outweighed her mental health. This loss of agency lingered long into her early years of motherhood. In that time, she discovered that she was far from alone. In fact, her experience typifies the harsh inequalities endured by child-bearing women, as well as the devaluation of what is still perceived as 'women's work'.

With bracing clarity and verve, Kon-Yu tackles the outdated institutions, expectations and ideologies that hold us hostage as parents, especially as mothers. While women are invested in working outside the home like never before, they are still expected to be the primary carers. The pressure is building and the cost on women is stacking up. Something has to give.

Drawing on personal narratives, history, social research and interviews with a range of Australian and international experts, The Cost of Labour tackles the expectations that keep us all hostage to a dynamic unfit for contemporary society and offers hope for a way out of the trap.

By: Natalie Kon-yu, Natalie
Imprint: Affirm Press
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 155mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 380g
ISBN: 9781922626868
ISBN 10: 1922626864
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 08 February 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Natalie Kon-yu is a writer, academic and editor whose work has been published nationally and internationally. She is the co-commissioning editor of #MeToo: Stories from the Australian Women s Movement (Picador, 2019), Mothers and Others: Why Not All Women are Mothers and All Mothers are Not the Same (Pan Macmillan, 2015) and Just Between Us: Australian Writers Tell the Truth about Female Friendship (Pan Macmillan 2013).