Mothers matter and caregivers count

In the “The Motherhood Manifesto,” a 2007 documentary about America’s inferior family policies, two young women chat at a kitchen table.

Britney giddily announces, “Tom and I think it’s time to start a family.” But Jennifer looks worried and responds, “Are you clueless? Don’t you read anything?” Then silence. Britney is clearly confused and asks, “Don’t you want to be a mother?” to which Jennifer responds, “Don’t you know what happens to mothers in America?”

The film, produced by MomsRising.org, supports 2007 research conducted by Joan C. Williams, director of University of California Hastings College of the Law’s Center for Worklife Law. Williams published her findings in her article, “Opt Out or Pushed Out?: How the Press Covers Work/Family Conflict.” Williams’ article exposes biased and flawed research used to produce the sensational 2003 New York Times article, “Why Don’t More Women Get to the Top? They Choose Not To” and its following flood of copycat media stories. The Times article asserts modern mothers are happily ending employment to become stay-at-home moms. Williams found the flawed research only interviewed elite, predominantly white women representing 8 percent of American women. It concluded women quit work due to the pull of family (while a recent study shows 86 percent of mothers reported inflexible work policies pushed them out) and those mothers studied were in an early stage of their lives and not divorced.

So what is happening to mothers in America? Williams asserts all-or-nothing workplaces that espouse a “culture of overwork” are today’s norm, depriving most Americans of a reasonable family life. She found professional women engage in hard-nosed negotiations for reduced hours following the birth of a child, but are refused. Involuntary downgrades of their assignments and reduced incomes are the payoff for those negotiations. Recently, numerous court rulings have favored pregnant women who experienced blatant hiring discrimination (the “maternal wall”) by managers. Williams’ research shows that when mothers are pushed out of the workforce, they face difficulty re-entering later and do so at a significantly lower income. MomsRising.org reports, “A college graduate who becomes a mother in the U.S. can expect to forfeit up to $1 million over her working life.”

U.S. mothers suffer uniquely compared to moms elsewhere in the industrial world. Williams, the National Organization for Women (NOW), and MomsRising report the United States is one of only four countries in the world that does not provide new mothers with some form of paid maternity leave. Other industrialized nations provide necessary workforce supports such as trained, well-paid child-care workers, affordable neighborhood child-care centers and after-school programs. Those other nations also defeat the United States on universal health care. Most Americans are only one sick or injured child away from financial disaster.

The U.S. government and business community’s apparent disinterest in the needs of employed mothers reflect an ideology that seeps into our American homes. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that in 2008, 48 percent of the workforce will be women; however, Williams found that working mothers spend twice as much time as their spouses doing essential household work like cooking, cleaning or caring for children as their “primary activity.” Such negligence by the spouse effectively limits the mother’s employment opportunities, harms the children and increases tensions in the home.

In today’s global economy, balancing work and family has become difficult or impossible for most Americans and is, therefore, a public issue. In response, Congress has introduced The Balancing Act. If passed, the act would provide Americans with paid family leave, benefits for part-time workers, high-quality child care and after-school programs.

NOW members are working to change the status quo and overcome misleading media messages through its Mothers Matter, Caregivers Count program. Williams’ article provides the key messages Americans need. Her messages: to women, “Modern marriage demands greater self-sufficiency;” to employers, modernize and match “today’s workplace to today’s workforce;” and to policy makers, enact and fund adequate support for American mothers and caregivers. Otherwise, Williams warns, “U.S. competitiveness in a rapidly globalizing world is at risk.”

Barbara McDaniel is president of Mat-Su NOW. Contact her at nowalaska.org or now.org.