Reviewed by Eleanor J. Bader
In Four Mothers: An Intimate Journey Through the First Year of Parenthood in Four Countries, Journalist Abigail Leonard, a mother of three, blends the personal and political in her astute look at how motherhood is supported (or not) in four countries: Finland, Kenya, Japan, and the United States. Her up-close-and-personal portrayals of four cisgender women track the physical toll of childbirth, post-delivery adjustment, and relationship strain. The result is powerful. “Many of the big decisions, like how much time to spend with the children and how to divide the emotional and physical labor with their partner, are heavily determined by the social structure of the place women give birth,” she writes.
Finland comes closest to an ideal, not only providing cost-free prenatal care that includes therapy to break intergenerational trauma in expectant moms but also utilizing midwives for most deliveries. During the birth itself, medication is promoted to reduce labor pain. Then, after the no-cost-to-them birth, moms like Anna get nearly a year of paid leave from their jobs; paid paternity leave is also encouraged. This has made Finland the only country in the industrialized world where fathers spend more time with school-aged children than mothers. Still, it’s not utopia, and Leonard chronicles the custody drama between Anna and Masa, her newborn’s dad.
That said, Anna has access to robust social supports, including professional daycare, which makes navigating single parenthood possible, if difficult. Nonetheless, compared to Chelsea in Kenya, Sarah in the US, and Tsukasa in Japan – mothers who have to juggle post-partum anxiety and depression with a relatively quick return to work – Finland seems like the gold standard. For the other three, the stress of unaffordable childcare, lack of breastfeeding support, and frustration with partners who either vanish or are clueless, makes this immersive portrayal heartbreaking, albeit compelling.
Sadly, Leonard notes that the visionary feminist goal of egalitarian parenting, a once prominent demand, remains unrealized. But we know what’s needed. While Four Mothers does not make policy recommendations, its case studies serve as a potent directive.
Four Mothers: An Intimate Journey Through the First Year of Parenthood in Four Countries by Abigail Leonard. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, May 2025 [pre-order available].
Reviewer bio: Eleanor J. Bader is a Brooklyn, NY-based journalist who writes about books and domestic social issues for Truthout, Rain Taxi, The Progressive, Ms. Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and The Indypendent.
