You Don’t Have to Carry It All: Ditch the Mom Guilt & Find a Better Way Forward By Paula Faris Book Review

 

In You Don’t Have to Carry It All, Paula Faris explored how society is currently valuing motherhood and the implications moms are facing in the workplace. In the book, she shared how she was a journalist for over two decades. In 2020, she was lost her job and was not resigned to her network contact with ABC during COVID-19. She was a co-anchor on Good Morning America: Weekend Edition and a cohost on the View. This is what lead her to begin CARRY Media which focuses on women and their stories on being a mother and also balancing the workplace and their experiences. She shared how moms make 70% of what dads make in the workforce. There is a pay gap. Part of this could be due to the rising costs of daycare and how it's more expensive. She also explored the topic of mother’s guilt and how this is affecting women and leading to extreme burnout. She also looked at how some studies found that women are perceived as less capable if they stayed home with their children to raise them and this more than likely led to a resume gap. She looked at the dynamics of the history of women and how their roles changed throughout the different historical times. 

 

 

 

In the book, she also discussed her treatment in the media field and how she was told she wouldn’t make it in TV until she showed her boobs more. She was told women couldn’t be in sports media. She explained how women anchors have to their outfit approved before you go on air but male anchors don’t have to go through the same experiences. She revealed how she was instructed to wear more makeup to hide her pregnancy mask. 

 

 

One of the most shocking stories was of an Australian news anchor, Karl Stefanovic who secretly made a stance and chose to wear the same suit for a most of the year on air. He shared how women are more judged on their looks and he was more judged on his interviews. No one noticed that he wore the same suit and if a woman would have done that someone would have tweeted or made comments about how they looked. 

 

 

I would recommend this awesome book about women and their role in society and all of the challenges that are facing currently. This book was very interesting in reading about everything that is happening in America and how women are viewed as qualified leaders. I immensely liked how she included a list on what companies can do to assist working moms and bring about changes in their organization. I also liked how she discussed paid paternity leave and how dads normally only take a few days when they have a new child and mostly the reason is that companies don’t offer it. There is tons of studies and data in this book to get the message across and it’s a very beneficial book. 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, Hachette Book Group/Faithwords for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/You-Dont-Have-Carry-All/dp/1546003738/