Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World (Hardcover)

by Linda R. Hirshman (Author) "If Betty Friedan had lived just a little longer..." (more)
Key Phrases: choice feminism, flourishing life, own damn business, Betty Friedan, New York Times, Supreme Court (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
A former attorney and professor of philosophy, Hirshman labeled child care as a low-status job and urged all women to rejoin the work force in her now infamous American Prospect article "Homeward Bound." Now she's back, using statistical research and convincing anecdotal evidence to challenge the politically correct assertion-as well as the moral, value and economic judgements inherent therein-that children, and ultimately society, benefit when mom stays at home. In her attempts to "restart the revolution," Hirshman spotlights the emptiness of "'choice feminism,' the shadowy remnant of the original women's movement," that puts the freedom to choose before progress or equality. "Stay-at-home moms do not like to hear that the sacrifice of their education, talents and prospects to their spouses' aspirations and their children's needs was a mistake," writes Hirshman, "so they contend the stay-at-home decision cannot be judged." But by making that "stay-at-home decision," Hirshman contends, women are creating, collectively, their own glass ceiling, in the end harming society as a whole by keeping educated, affluent women hidden at home. In this slim treatise, Hirshman adds intelligent and much-needed dialogue to an important and emotional debate.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Hirshman, retired philosophy professor, expands on an article she wrote that ignited a firestorm of criticism from the Right and the Left. She criticized the decision of many well-educated women to return to hearth and home, maintaining that the decisions these women think are entirely personal are influenced by social--and even governmental--pressures to stay home. Hirshman responds to blunt criticism that what women decide is "their own business" by suggesting they test their decisions against canons of Western philosophical ideas of the good and worthy life: Are they using their human capacities to the fullest, maximizing their independence, and doing no social harm? By leaving the workplace, these women are setting back achievements for gender equality and demonstrating indifference toward the larger society. Hirshman is critical in general of women who have settled for a "useless choice feminism," one that fails to address the issues of work and family life. This slim book is likely to continue to fan the fires of an argument that hasn't lost its incendiary potential since The Feminine Mystique. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (June 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670038121
• ISBN-13: 978-0670038121
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #593,680 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Subtitle is "Manifesto"!, June 26, 2006

By	Mercy Otis Warren - See all my reviews

Previous reviewers here have complained about Hirschman's alleged lack of "balance" in this book. But the author never claims to present a "balanced" view of the work/home dilemma that many middle-class and privileged women face. (BIG HINT: the subtitle of her book includes the word "manifesto"! It's printed very cleverly as a "little red book!" Get it?)

This book is a polemic, not a sociological or historical analysis of the work/home issue like Judith Warner's _Perfect Madness_. _Get to Work_ challenges women and men to ask themselves the classic philosophical question, "what makes for a good life?" and challenges them to defend their choices, understanding that their choices have moral implications for themselves, their families, and the rest of the world.

The previous reviewer asks what she thinks is a rhetorical question: "Imagine the outrage if someone wrote a manifesto saying all women should be compelled to stay home and raise babies!" I think that book's been written, several times over, by Laura Schlessinger, James Dobson, Danielle Crittenden, Caitlyn Flanagan, Penelope Leach, T. Berry Brazelton, Phyllis Schlaffly, Rick Santorum, and dozens more reactionary celebrities who cling to essentialist ideas about gender because of their fear of American values, democracy, and modernity. We're so accustomed to hearing the "opt-out" decision framed as a moral choice that sanctifies wives and mothers who don't work for pay and demonizes women who do as grasping, unnatural, and selfish that it is a bracing shock to the system to read an argument that turns this so-called "morality" on its head. She makes a compelling case that women should remain in the paid workforce for two big reasons: first, because true feminist change is unlikely to happen if a majority of educated women "opt-out" of reaching the highest ranks in their profession, and second, for the family's economic security. Thus women who "opt-out" endanger both the goal of true gender equality and their own families.

I seriously doubt that most of the reviews here were written by people who have bothered to read the book. I think these are mostly reactions to her recent articles in the American Prospect and the Washington Post, by people who may have been (reasonably) offended by Hirschman's claim that there's something infantilizing about working in the domestic sphere only. I have my questions about Hirschman's prescriptions--for example, she doesn't say who exactly should do all of the domestic work she slights--but I think her book gives us a refreshing take on work/home issues.

52 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking, June 18, 2006

By	Michelle Saint "Ms Saint" (Arizona) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

At the end of the day, the freedom to choose one's way of life is the greatest freedom of them all. However, Hirshman raises an incredibly important point: there are consequences to our choices and we need to realize what they are. Hirshman's thesis may be contentious, but you can't say she doesn't have a point.

Even if you're the happiest housewife in the world, it's important to recognize the cost of your happiness: economic freedom, social prestige, and intellectual productivity. Even if -you- don't put much value on these, you must acknowledge that society does. And society will judge you by them.

Of course, at the end of the day, it is every woman's right to choose how she will live her life. But this book raises a point that is strangely ignored in this age of equality: this choice that each woman makes is the exact same choice as is made by each man.

The question of equality between men and women cannot be considered without an inquiry such as Hirshman's. And each woman's choice as to who she is relative her husband and children should not be made without considering the points Hirshman raises.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A short book with a simple point and a proposed solution, June 6, 2007

By	Laura Farrell (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World (Hardcover)

Linda Hirshman has a definite opinion -- that women should not waste their educations raising kids. I happen to think that spending time raising the next generation is worthy of an educated person's time. However, she makes some excellent points about how unequal the workplace still is, and why this is a problem. She also has a concrete solution: fix the tax code that unfairly penalizes a married woman's income. This is a valid point and it is refreshing to hear someone focus on something concrete that could change in our current system. However, I believe that our current system of only allowing full-time employees access to affordable health insurance is a greater problem. My husband and I seriously considered splitting the child care and the income-producing work. The fact that one of us had to maintain full-time status for health insurance meant that one of us would focus on child care, thus the division of labor.

A negative in the book is that she fails to account for how children will be raised if everyone is working full time at more exciting and lucrative jobs. And the title may put some people off from the start, particularly those who collapse into bed every night after a day of taking care of children. We wouldn't tell a nanny or a day care provider to "get to work" but somehow people don't mind saying this to at-home mothers who work at least as hard (since they are usually also cooks, financial managers, house cleaners, etc.). However, the book is concise and to the point, and she is not trying to hide the fact that she is making a value judgment.