A Woman’s Work cover art

A Woman’s Work

Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

A Woman’s Work

By: Elinor Cleghorn
Narrated by: Sarah Slimani
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £17.94

Buy Now for £17.94

About this listen

 The first comprehensive history of mothers and mothering from antiquity to today, by the acclaimed author of UNWELL WOMEN

'An essential history' LEAH HAZARD
'A perfectly timed and illuminating triumph' LINDSEY FITZHARRIS
'This is the book we need right now . . . powerful and astonishing' MARIANNE LEVY
'Thoughtful, smart, and, sadly, really bloody urgent' CLAIRE LYNCH

Mothers make history. For centuries, motherhood has sparked social and political change. Yet the acts of growing, birthing and nurturing children - and the power they hold - have been pushed to the margins, overlooked in our narratives of the past.

In A Woman's Work, Elinor Cleghorn reveals the mothers, othermothers, midwives, activists, and community leaders who have shaped this extraordinary history. They include Hildegard of Bingen, the medieval nun and mystic with pioneering views about the maternal body; Mary Wollstonecraft, who laid the intellectual groundwork to release motherhood from male control; and Sojourner Truth, who drew attention to the abhorrent treatment of mothers under chattel slavery.

Beginning in the ancient world, we learn how in each era, the patriarchy constructed its own idealised notion of motherhood - from the misogynistic dogma of the early church and the stigmatisation of single mothers in 17th century England all the way through to the post-war myth of the perfectly contented housewife. But we also learn how mothers of all classes and circumstances fought back, and lobbied to be valued, respected and supported - not as reproductive vessels, but as people.

A Woman's Work is a radical and inspiring new history of mothering, and a timely reminder that the fight for reproductive freedom is far from over.©2026 Elinor Cleghorn (P)2026 Orion Publishing Group Limited Women Inspiring

Critic reviews

An essential history of forgotten lives and labour
A perfectly timed and illuminating triumph that consolidates Cleghorn's place among the foremost voices in medical history
[Written] with robust research and eloquent rage...a timely lesson on the dangers of allowing outdated patriarchal attitudes to shape modern public policy.
This is the book we need right now, freeing motherhood from history's margins and making it the story. From the Bronze Age to the present day, Cleghorn writes about the fight for mothers "to be cared for, respected, supported and heard" and her book does all of this and so much more. Huge in its scope and precise in its research, A Woman's Work is as powerful and astonishing as motherhood itself.
Thoughtful, smart, and, sadly, really bloody urgent. If you like your patriarchal systems dismantled with exquisite research and thoughtful personal reflections you'll want one of these
Cleghorn takes a sweeping view of motherhood... Impressive research informs a vibrantly detailed history
A meticulously researched and rousing history of mothering. A Woman's Work is as informative as it is full of feeling
All stars
Most relevant
This book is incredibly well written and the performance by the narrator makes the listening of this audiobook particularly enjoyable. It has given me a much wider perspective of mothering throughout history and has allowed me to see how women, through incredible resilience and strength, have continued to brith and mother children throughout damaging, suppressive and often hypocritical views of motherhood imposed onto them by the patriarchy. It makes me incredibly proud to be a woman and be attached to the legacy of countless women and mothering figures whose decisions, sacrifices and lives have allowed our species to continue to the present day. But not only this, this book has given me a sense of grounding when it comes to my own potential motherhood. Today’s world is rapidly changing and our understanding of motherhood and women’s rights over their body are being threatened from many different religious and political platforms. But as Elinor says in her conclusion “The future of mothering, as we know, can never be sustained through coercion and oppression. To build a world in which all people who mother can do so safely and with support required massive systemic change. The patriarchy might try to repeat history, but mothers always have, and always will, rewrite it…….. Mothers make history. And as mothers continue this history, their mothering, will make the world”.

A passionate, beautiful and incredibly articulate history into motherhood through time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.