02735cam a2200277 4500 1261955569 TxAuBib 001103s2001||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 00053722 9780805066180 hc. 0805066187 hc. (OCoLC)7898 DLC DLC LHA PGC WSL HIR TxAuBib Crittenden, Ann. The price of motherhood : why the most important job in the world is still the least valued / Ann Crittenden. 1st ed. New York : Metropolitan Books, 2001. 323 p. ; 25 cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Where we are now -- A conspiracy of silence -- How mothers' work was ""disappeared"" : the invention of the unproductive housewife -- The truly invisible hand -- The mommy tax -- The dark little secret of family life -- What is a wife worth? -- Who really owns the family wage? -- Who pays for the kids? -- The welfare state versus a caring state -- The toughest job you'll ever love -- An accident waiting to happen -- ""It was her choice"" -- Conclusion : how to bring children up without putting women down. In this book, Ann Crittenden argues that although women have been liberated, mothers have not. Drawing on hundreds of interviews from around the country, as well as the most current research in economics, sociology, history, child development and law, she shows how mothers are systematically disadvantaged and made dependent by a society that celebrates the labor of child-rearing but undervalues and even exploits those who perform it. The price of motherhood is everywhere apparent. College-educated women pay a ""mommy tax"" of more than a million dollars in lost income when they have a child. Family law deprives mothers of financial equality in marriage. Most child care is excluded from the gross domestic product, at-home mothers are not counted in the labor force, and the social safety net leaves them out. With passion and clarity, Crittenden dismantles the principal argument for the status quo: that it's a woman's ""choice."" She demonstrates, on the contrary, that if mothers had more resources and respect, everyone--including children--would be better off. The price of motherhood reveals the glaring disparity between the value created by mothers' work and the reward women receive for carrying out society's most important job. Motherhood United States. Motherhood Economic aspects United States. Mothers United States Economic conditions. Mothers United States Social conditions.