Book Review: Grandmothers at Work: Juggling Families and Jobs by Madonna Harrington Meyer

Analyzing in-depth qualitative data from 48 interviews with working grandmothers between 2009 and 2012, Harrington Meyer presents the reader with data about exactly how continuous women’s caregiving can be across the life course. Firmly placing her work within the literature that describes the work–family time crunch, work–family conflict, and the need for family-friendly public policy, Harrington Meyer highlights grandmothers as those who provide support for young working families and fill gaps in carework. With the intensification of motherhood and increased work hours in families, Harrington Meyer argues that contemporary grandmothering is “beginning to look a lot like mothering” (pp. 65, 98-99). Thus, intensive caregiving follows women into their 50s, 60s, and 70s. Most women in this study reported working for pay and caring for grandchildren more than they expected to at this stage of their lives.

Harrington Meyer is careful to use her study to demonstrate the rewards and burdens of active grandmothering and presents a comprehensive picture in this regard. The reader finds that depletion of one’s financial resources and physical exhaustion are the main costs, and joy and having a second chance at caregiving are the main benefits of active grandmothering. Each chapter is well balanced, as Harrington Meyer is extremely careful to present interview data on both role stress and role enhancement as she contemplates the effects of intensive grandmothering on individual women. However, Harrington Meyer uses the second half of her book to detail some of the struggles that working grandmothers face, such as the financial constraints of intensive grandmothering; the difficulties women have in setting limits on their carework; the lack of understanding from male partners, friends, and coworkers; and other drains on emotional, social, and physical well-being caused by intensive grandmothering. Grandmothers in this study struggled just like mothers do, to make “good” work–family choices. In the absence of narratives about grandfathers and fathers in this book, the reader assumes that women are still the ones to juggle work–family demands (regardless of life course stage). While Harrington Meyer did not set out to study men’s carework, women in her study talked about helping adult daughters more than adult sons. Harrington Meyer also suggests that grandfathers were not always interested in helping with this care, which was difficult for individual interviewees sometimes. As carework literature already documents, caregiving is a gendered burden, even at midlife and beyond.

Harrington Meyer’s ability to use her interview data to weave a story of interconnected caregiving across the life course is the most compelling aspect of this book. First, Harrington Meyer shows us the recursive nature of carework identities. Numerous women in her study enjoyed grandmothering because it gave them a “second chance” to be attentive to and have fun with children. Interview excerpts suggest that motherhood was time-pressured, guilt-ridden, and never good enough, and women reported making up for their perceived shortcomings as a mother in grandmotherhood. Motherhood therefore represents a reference point for how women perceived grandmotherhood. Second, Harrington Meyer demonstrates the need for multiple caregivers, as young families cannot manage paid work and caregiving burdens on their own. The reader finishes this book with an understanding that carework is not accomplished by individuals in isolation from one another; mothers may depend on grandmothers to engage in another “sequence” of caregiving at midlife to reduce work–family conflict. Third, Harrington Meyer appropriately examines how grandmothering allows women to continue supporting their adult children, not only financially and emotionally but also through time in carework. Although Harrington Meyer does not explicitly argue the point, it seems that grandmothering allowed interviewees to continue being active mothers. Fourth, extending literature on the sandwich generation, Harrington Meyer proposes that the women in her study are in a “club sandwich of carework” (p. 24), caring for their children, grandchildren, and elderly parents simultaneously. No longer are the Baby Boomers caring for just children and parents, but now grandchildren too. Harrington Meyer’s use of a life course perspective is valuable because the reader can visualize the delicate balance of interconnected caregivers and care recipients, as well as how different groups in families are all affected by individual paid work and family situations.

This book is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students as well as scholars interested in issues of work–family conflict, gendered caregiving, and gendered aging. While this book is an easy read and the arguments may seem straightforward initially, Harrington Meyer infers deeper conclusions about how complex family life and work–family conflict is in contemporary times. The power of this book is in its encouragement of the reader to assess the true interconnectedness of generations, the similarities and differences in women’s work across life stages, and the benefits and costs of life-long, gendered caregiving responsibilities.

HEATHER E. DILLAWAY Wayne State University, USA