Read more
In a world where women seemingly have more choices than ever, society continues to exert historical stigmas and pressures when it comes to having children. We define women by whether they embrace or reject motherhood; whether they can give birth or not.
Drawing on her own experiences as a woman of South Asian heritage, behavioural scientist Pragya Agarwal interrogates the thinking behind this. Extremely open in its honesty and meticulously researched,
(M)otherhood probes themes of infertility, childbirth and reproductive justice, and makes a powerful and urgent argument for the need to tackle society's obsession with women's bodies and fertility.
About the author
Dr Pragya Agarwal is a behavioural and data scientist. She has held senior academic positions in the UK and USA for over fifteen years and is currently visiting professor of social inequities at Loughborough and a Visiting Fellow at University of Oxford. As well as numerous research papers, she is the author of three widely acclaimed non-fiction books, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias, Wish We Knew What to Say: Talking with Children about Race and (M)otherhood: On the choices of being a woman, and a book Standing Up To Racism for young children. Her writing has also appeared in the Guardian, Prospect, BBC Science Focus, Scientific American and New Scientist amongst others.
A passionate campaigner for racial and gender equity, Pragya has given keynote talks around the world. Pragya has been awarded the Transmission Prize for making complex scientific ideas accessible and the Nesta Crucible award for scientific innovation. In 2023, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholar Award, The Churchill Fellowship and British Library Fellowship.
@DrPragyaAgarwal | drpragyaagarwal.com
Summary
Part memoir and reflective analysis, Pragya Agarwal examines motherhood and fertility and how it shapes all our lives
Additional text
Courageous, tender, painfully resonant and beautifully written - this is such a wise and generous exploration of womanhood and identity, and deserves to be read as widely as possible
