Working Daughter

Just recently, the New York Times, Bustle and Cosmo all reported on a looming crisis: the growing number of dementia patients who will rely on family members, typically daughters, for their care. In fact, a majority of the 44 million unpaid eldercare workers in the US are married women in their late 40s, with a living parent or parents aged 65 or older, and at least one dependent child—and they are struggling. Female caregivers are seven times more likely than their male counterparts to cut down from full-time to part-time employment, take a leave of absence or quit their jobs and lose their benefits because of caregiving duties. They are also are more likely to say that caregiving takes a physical toll on their bodies and places a strain on their marriage and relationships. And there are few resources to guide and comfort them.

Working Daughter: A Guide to Caring For Your Aging Parents While Making a Living aims to change that. Based on her own family’s eldercare crisis, Liz O’Donnell offers a practical approach to balancing one’s parents’ needs with those of one’s children and spouse, challenging biases and inflexible cultures at work, maintaining a sense of self, and even embracing the role of caregiver despite its many challenges. Blending personal narrative and actionable advice, she shares the lessons she learned, some through trial and error, some by talking to other caregivers, medical and healthcare professionals, an eldercare attorney, a work-life expert, and a grief counselor. Chapters also include tools and checklists to help working daughters manage caregiving along with their careers, families, and already busy lives.

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