Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World

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.