Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive

“My daughter learned to walk in a homeless shelter.”

This is the first sentence of Maid, Stephanie Land’s memoir and exposé on low wage working poverty. Here, Land introduces the reader to one of the memoir’s prevailing interests and themes: the challenges of raising a child while poor and the unique problems poverty creates for single mothers. Even though Land is experiencing a joyful milestone—her daughter’s first steps—she feels pulled away from the moment by the knowledge that these first steps take place in a shelter for people without homes. Land’s struggle to be emotionally present for her daughter amidst concerns about their living environment (and ability to live) continually arises over the course of the book. 

“Being poor, living in poverty seemed a lot like probation—the crime being a lack of means to survive.” 

Land explains that all government services and subsidized housing comes with a strict set of rules and behavioral protocol. Residents cannot drink or do drugs and must undergo random drug tests. Residents must also follow strict guidelines for reporting all earned income to dispel suspicions they are using or selling drugs or earning money from other illegal activities. With her use of the term “probation,” Land reveals that poor people are subjected to the very same behavioral guidelines—and prejudices—as ex-convicts. Thus, hardworking government aid recipients such as Stephanie feel they must not only battle against stigmatic perceptions from people in the community, but within the very system administering these services.