Reader’s Corner: C of O professor’s book celebrates working homemakers

Thank you to Charity Gibson, Associate Professor of English at College of the Ozarks, for sharing with the Globe about her book, “The Working Homemaker: Employed Christian Moms Desiring a Thriving Home Life.” She speaks from experience about the tension women feel as they desire to use their gifts and talents to serve in the workplace while also parenting with excellence and prioritizing their marriage. Enjoy her comments below about her inspiration for the book! 

-Cindy

Mother Teresa said, “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” In some ways, that sounds easy enough to do, but loving our family well in a way that will positively impact those around us is no small feat. These were the sort of ideas I pondered writing “The Working Homemaker,” exploring how the work we do inside and outside of our home can be complementary rather than competitive.

There’s a lot of talk about balance, especially for women who wear the hats of both mama and wage earner. Yet I’m not sure if balance, in which the scales must always come out in a perfect 50/50 split, is always the best way to think about the sort of life I’m after. Instead, I like to think of ways that home and work life can harmonize with one another. Homemaking always has the melody. Our families and the homes we do life together in aren’t the only aspect of our lives, but they are the heartbeat. Work, ambitions, activities—they can provide a beautiful harmony, but if they overpower what is meant to be at the core of it all, it will ring hollow. 

Homemaking isn’t just for those who’ve got the Martha Stewart touch. It’s something that can unify women of all sorts, in this amazing opportunity to nurture what happens within the four walls of our home, even as we may also go out and share our talents with the world. It took me a while to figure this out, that with some careful prioritization and sacrifices, I could harmonize being a homemaker and a college professor, that I didn’t have to choose a lane in order to be both a good mom and a good employee. 

So, I wrote this book first and foremost for me, eleven years ago, when I was looking for resources and found so few. Now it’s starting to make its way into the hands of working moms, moms thinking about working, working women thinking about having children, and those kind souls who just want to be a support system and better understand what it’s like to be a working mom. If it finds its way into your hands (or ear buds) as well, I couldn’t be more pleased. I hope you, or someone you love, will feel seen. 

Connect with Charity at https://charitygibson.com/contact/ to get a copy for yourself or a mom you know!