
In "Essential Labor," Angela Garbes reframes mothering as revolutionary work, arguing caregiving forms our economy's foundation yet remains undervalued. Written during pandemic lockdowns, this Filipino-American perspective challenges us: what if motherhood isn't just personal labor but actually the key to meaningful social change?
Siente el libro a través de la voz del autor
Convierte el conocimiento en ideas atractivas y llenas de ejemplos
Captura ideas clave en un instante para un aprendizaje rápido
Disfruta el libro de una manera divertida y atractiva
Picture a Wednesday afternoon in March 2020. You're trying to write an email while a toddler tugs at your sleeve demanding snacks. Your partner is on a Zoom call behind a closed door. You're wiping counters for the third time today, refereeing sibling disputes, and wondering when you last had an uninterrupted thought. This was the reality for millions when the pandemic collapsed the boundary between home and work. But here's what we rarely acknowledged: for many women, especially mothers, this wasn't new - it was just suddenly visible. The pandemic didn't create the crisis of undervalued care work; it simply made it impossible to ignore. What if the exhaustion you felt wasn't personal failure but the inevitable result of a system that treats the most essential work - raising humans - as economically worthless? There's a direct line connecting Spanish colonization of the Philippines in 1898 to why Filipina nurses comprise just 4% of US nurses but suffered 34% of nursing deaths during COVID-19. This isn't coincidence - it's design. When the US took control of the Philippines, they established English-language schools and medical institutions, creating a pipeline of healthcare workers trained to American standards. The 1965 Immigration Act then actively recruited these workers to fill labor shortages. White American women trained Filipina nurses while maintaining positions of authority, perpetuating a hierarchy that confined women of color to invisible caretaking roles. This pattern - extracting care labor from colonized populations while denying them full humanity - is foundational to how modern economies function.
Desglosa las ideas clave de Essential Labor en puntos fáciles de entender para comprender cómo los equipos innovadores crean, colaboran y crecen.
Destila Essential Labor en pistas de memoria rápidas que resaltan los principios clave de franqueza, trabajo en equipo y resiliencia creativa.

Experimenta Essential Labor a través de narraciones vívidas que convierten las lecciones de innovación en momentos que recordarás y aplicarás.
Pregunta lo que quieras, elige la voz y co-crea ideas que realmente resuenen contigo.

Creado por exalumnos de la Universidad de Columbia en San Francisco
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Creado por exalumnos de la Universidad de Columbia en San Francisco

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