The Caregiving Ambition: What It Is and Why It Matters at Home and Work

Humans have always been caregivers. Yet caregiving for children, the sick, and the elderly is shockingly undervalued and underaccommodated. Given how little value is placed on caregiving, the work-life movement has been stalled for decades, stuck on women and their children like a skipping record. There are more women in the workforce, but not significantly more in the top leadership positions. Most importantly, many women– and increasingly some men–experience their efforts to have careers and care for dependents as a battle against themselves or their own wellbeing. Most of this conversation is centered on helping mothers succeed in the workplace, with little attention to how we think about caregiving more broadly. Commonly construed as a duty, obligation, or responsibility, caregiving is, for many people, something very different: a goal, a desire, an ambition. Society’s failure to acknowledge caregiving as an ambition on par with career aspirations has created real consequences, including a troubling lack of caregiving for each other, stubborn gender gaps in leadership, and widespread dissatisfaction with life. This evidence-based, reflective, and practical book on caregiving ambition pushes beyond the mommy wars that divide women, and increasingly men, by how they care, uniting them instead on why and how much they care.

Through firsthand quantitative and qualitative empirical research, plus a wealth of research reviewed, the authors bring together psychological theories and cutting-edge management research to illuminate how ignoring caregiving as an ambition perpetuates the status quo. This book shows the path forward: an honest discussion about caregiving ambition will make our individual and collective lives more humane, caring, and productive.