Early in the twentieth century, maternal and child welfare evolved from a private family responsibility into a matter of national policy. Molly Ladd-Taylor explores both the private and public aspects of child-rearing, using the relationship between them to cast new light on the histories of motherhood, the welfare state, and women's activism in the United States. 

Ladd-Taylor argues that mother-work, "women's unpaid work of reproduction and caregiving," motivated women's public activism and "maternalist" ideology. Mothering experiences led women to become active in the development of public health, education, and welfare services. In turn, the advent of these services altered mothering in many ways, including the reduction of the infant mortality rate.

Introduction 1
Part 1
Mother-Work at Home
1. The Work of Mothering 17
Part Two
Mother-Work in the Community
2. "When the Birds Have Flown the Nest, the Mother-Work May Still Go On", Sentimental Maternalim and the National Congress of Mothers 43
3. "The Welfare of Mothers and Babies Is a Dignified Subject of Political Discussion", Progressive Materinalism and the Children's Bureau 74
4. "How Cruelly Unjust to Handicap All Women", Feminism and the Abandonment of Motherhood Rhetoric 104
Part Three
Mothers and the State
5. "Every Mother Has a Right", The Movement for Mothers' Pensions 135
6. "We Mothers Are So Glad the Day Has Come", Mothers' Work and the Sheppard-Towner Act 167
Conclusion 197
Index 207