Description: This book argues for increased recognition of pregnancy, birthing and childrearing as social activities demanding simultaneously physical, intellectual, emotional and moral work from those who undertake them. Amy Mullin considers both parenting and paid childcare, and examines the impact of disability on this work. The first chapters contest misconceptions about pregnancy and birth such as the idea that pregnancy is only valued for its end result, and not for the process. Subsequent chapters focus on childcare provided in different circumstances and on the needs of both providers and receivers of care.
Brief description: Amy Mullin is Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto.
Review Quotes: "Mullin's work is highly interdisciplinary while her voice remains decidedly philosophical. This makes her text a valuable contribution to the philosophical literature on pregnancy and motherhood (which has tended to be quite abstract) and to the quickly growing empirical literature on these topics (which has tended to be light on the kind of conceptual analysis and ethical theory that a philosopher can bring to the topic)." --Rebecca Kukla, Georgetown University