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.
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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.
Comments
19 comment(s)Feminista wrote on Mar 11, 2008 12:28 PM:
Publius wrote on Jan 12, 2008 7:58 PM:
Socratista wrote on Jan 12, 2008 4:08 PM:
Publius wrote on Jan 12, 2008 9:07 AM:
Socratista wrote on Jan 11, 2008 8:18 PM:
Feminista wrote on Jan 9, 2008 12:52 PM:
It is actually sad that you refuse to accept the fact that women will advocate for their own birthrights and that women will speak in reference to their own, very real experiences. "
Publius wrote on Jan 8, 2008 6:34 PM:
Honest debate is no enemy to NOW or any woman. Tyranny, as in the form of this devious intellectual censorship is the enemy. Truth always prevail!
"
Feminista wrote on Jan 8, 2008 4:15 PM:
To your statement, "NOW wants equality [for women]," FYI, women are born with equal rights and value to men. From birth forward, our value and rights are stolen from us through discrimination and violence.
Obviously, charity does not cover the need. In industrialized nations, savvy women refuse to bear children and the birthrate is decreasing. Some nations now pay women to bear children. In the U.S., cheapskate conservatives want to force motherhood while denying support with backward, right-wing reproductive/sex ed policies and funding. "
Publius wrote on Jan 5, 2008 1:44 PM:
Children will benefit most from virtuous parents and examples. When needed, charity can provide. "
Feminista wrote on Jan 5, 2008 10:37 AM:
Publius wrote on Jan 5, 2008 9:46 AM:
NOW,MoveOn,and MomsRising all seek power,influence, and money from the government to advance Socialist causes, not Liberty. Liberty is responsibility. Socialism is slavery.
"
Democritus wrote on Jan 4, 2008 11:37 AM:
Publius wrote on Jan 3, 2008 11:20 PM:
Women are not victims anymore or less than anyone else. True equality is having the deep-rooted power of one's convictions and living it out without laying responsibility or blame on others. Victory for women, like all people, comes with love,and grace not shame and blame.
No person ever gained by taking from another, but gained by giving. Thanks for teaching by example my dear sweet mother...a true pillar of femininity. "
Publius wrote on Jan 3, 2008 11:04 PM:
The information about Ms. Blades and both MoveOn and MomsRising was gathered from a woman's website that reviewed the Mother's Manifesto. Follow the link and read. http://www.mothersmovement.org/books/reviews/06/mom_manifesto.html
The author was a female reporter for the Washingon Post, not a rich white man.
NOW and Planned Parenthood gain status as "Advocacy Groups" for issues and often recieve funding to administer the new programs. No programs for the pilgrim,pioneer,and immigrant mothers; just hard work,supportive husbands, and family. "
feminista wrote on Jan 3, 2008 1:07 AM:
Mothers will be staying in the workplace whether fathers, businesses, or the government do their duty or not. So what does America want to do about its unsupervised kids?
And no NOW program has produced a torrent of donations to our volunteer organization like having that anti-woman incompetent in the White House for the past 8 years has. "
Can you hear me, NOW? wrote on Jan 3, 2008 12:51 AM:
Why are rich white men so threatened by 'elite women'? Oh yeah, like pubis said--follow the money. "
Publius wrote on Jan 2, 2008 7:07 PM:
Motherhood is a cover for this political group to take control. Read the "Motherhood Manifesto", it is right out of the extreme socialist political agenda which is pushed from the elite down, not the grass-roots up.
Why do elite women, who can afford all manner of childcare, presume to speak for the masses? Follow the power/ money. "
Concerned resident wrote on Jan 2, 2008 2:39 PM:
Ethical societies give special consideration to those among them who are vulnerable and in need of assistance.
Whether the National Organization for Women does, or does not, benefit financially from causes it espouses is irrelevant. All organizations must have some kind of funding in order to function. To bring up the subject of "financial benefits" is a red herring rather than a valid point. "
Publius wrote on Jan 2, 2008 12:02 AM:
Liberty allows for choices that lead to success and failure, but does not give special status to mothers on behalf of political organizations like NOW. NOW will certainly benefit financially from this plan as it always does. "