Should we become parents? It’s a question that forces us to reckon with what we love and fear most in ourselves, in our relationships, and in the world as it is now and as it will be.

When Gina Rushton admitted she had little time left to make the decision for herself, the magnitude of the choice overwhelmed her. Her search for her own ‘yes’ or ‘no’ only uncovered more questions to be answered. How do we clearly consider creating a new life on a planet facing catastrophic climate change? How do we reassess the gender roles we have been assigned? How do we know if we’ve found the right co-parent, or if we want to go it alone, or if we don’t want to do it at all?

Drawing on a depth of knowledge afforded by Rushton’s body of work as an award-winning journalist, The Most Important Job in the World is a powerful, compelling and forensic analysis of the role of motherhood in society today, and the competing forces that draw us towards and away from it.