Publisher’s Synopsis:
In Women’s Work, award-winning photographer Chris Crisman documents the women who pioneered work in fields that have long been considered the provinces of men—with accompanying interviews on how these inspiring women have always paved their own ways.
Today, young girls are told they can do—and be—anything they want when they grow up. Yet the unique challenges that women face in the workplace, whether in the boardroom or the barnyard, have never been more publicly discussed and scrutinized. With Women’s Work, Crisman pairs his award-winning, striking portrait photography of women on the job with poignant, powerful interviews of his subjects: women who have carved out unique places for themselves in a workforce often dominated by men, and often dominated by men who have told them no.
Through their stories, we see not only the ins and outs of their daily work, but the emotional and physical labors of the jobs they love. Women’s Work is a necessary snapshot of how far we’ve come and where we’re heading next—their stories are an inspiration as well as a call to action for future generations of women at work.
Women’s Work features more than sixty beautiful photographs, including Alison Goldblum, contractor; Anna Valer Clark, ranch owner; Ayah Bdeir, CEO of littleBits; Beth Beverly, taxidermist; Carla Hall, blacksmith; Cherise Van Hooser, funeral director; Jordan Ainsworth, gold miner; Magen Lowe, correctional officer; Mindy Gabriel, firefighter; Nancy Poli, pig farmer; Katherine Kallinis Berman and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne, Founders of Georgetown Cupcake; Doris Kearns Goodwin, presidential biographer; Sophi Davis, cowgirl; Abingdon Welch, pilot; Christy Wilhelmi, beekeeper; Connie Chang, chemical engineer; Danielle Perez, comedienne; Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo; Lisa Calvo, oyster farmer; Mia Anstine, outdoor guide; Meejin Yoon, architect; Yoky Matsuoka, a tech VP at Google; and many more.
Edition:
E-ARC (Net Galley)
My Thoughts:
Women’s Work was…underwhelming. The photographs are beautiful, and the book definitely covers a lot of ground career-path wise, but nevertheless I have a few bones to pick.
First of all, it seems inaccurate to call what accompanies these photographs interviews. If anything, they read like personal essays. I don’t know if that is meant to mean that Crisman sent each woman a list of questions and asked them to interpret them how they like and send their responses back in a memoir-esque format or not, but that’s kind of how it feels. Like, everyone covers most of the same basic information, but they don’t feel very consistently formed. Which isn’t a problem for me so much as it is a source of minor confusion.
My second, and final “issue” (if you can call it that) is that while I won’t argue that each of these women is a part of a career field that is typically not overly female-friendly (unfortunately, surprisingly few things that don’t involve caregiving are, even today) which is REALLY cool, I will argue that it is kind of boring to only hear from women who received consistent support and encouragement from those around them, since that is not a reality that many of us are ever confronted with. It would have been nice to see even one or two women in there whose stories didn’t include extremely supportive families or coworkers, mentors, or financial means. It seems to me that every single woman had at least one of those things – which is wonderful for them, but again, not a reality for a lot of us.
I just wanted there to be one woman in there who said something to the effect of, “Nobody thought I could do it, but I did,” or “Nobody took me seriously, but here I am.” You know? Something empowering! It was great to see a bunch of women talking about their interesting experiences (and they were all interesting, I don’t want to diminish that), I just wish that one or two of those profiles would have been a little more rags-to-riches. I mean, we have to hear about that all the time in stories of “self-made” men, so it would be nice to see it about a woman now and again too. Unless the reality is that as women, we still have enough working against us professionally that this isn’t a valid scenario for us yet…
About the Author (from Simon & Schuster):
Chris Crisman is an award-winning photographer specializing in lifestyle and portraiture imagery. Some of his notable subjects include Sigourney Weaver, Jane Goodall, Al Gore, and Richard Branson. His commercial clients include Panasonic, FedEx, ExxonMobil, Merck, Pfizer, Novartis, Wells Fargo, Coca-Cola, Interscope, Warner Bros., and Allstate to name a few. He is based near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and he is the author of Women’s Work.
Rating:
This book was okay. It sat pretty middle-of-the-road for me. If you’re easily empowered, or like good photography, I’d suggest checking it out.
If you want stories of women rising up in spite of challenges, this might not be the book for you – almost every one of these women mentions that they were in environments that were so supportive that they were actually surprised at how little professional resistance they met. Which is great for them, but I find it more personally frustrating, I guess, than I do empowering. Like, I’d probably be doing really well too if I came from a stable home, had extremely financially and emotionally supportive parents so I could get a quality, uninterrupted education, a reasonable amount of money, and either a legacy job or an extremely progressive and supportive work environment, but…I don’t. Do I sound bitter? I feel a little bitter.
Women's Work Chris Crisman Simon & Schuster Arts & Photography ISBN: 9781982110376 Published: March 3, 2020 Hardcover 256 Pages
