[1] Gerhardt is best known as the author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain (2004).
[4] The book presents evidence that babies' brains develop differently in the first few months of life depending on the amount and type of care they receive in that time.
The evidence suggests that the prefrontal cortex and, within that, the orbitofrontal area are stimulated and interconnect more powerfully when a child is demonstrably loved.
That world (including male-dominated governments) didn’t (and still doesn’t) take into account the fact that babies or small children need very personal one-to-one care.
Because we were so determined to escape domesticity, I think we feminists had a bit of a blind spot around children’s emotional needs and ignored this uncomfortable fact.