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Editor's notes

July/August 2005:
Summertime, work and care work; NOW steps up to the plate; talking with Jane Lazarre; fathers fight back.

I've been trying to slow down this summer -- or perhaps summer is trying to slow me down. This year I took a devil-may-care (read: potentially disastrous) approach to the school break and refused to sign my kids up for weeks on end of full-day activities. I decided that, at ages 8 and 12, they are old enough to arrange their own amusements for a change -- and so far, so good. I love the more relaxed pace of our mornings, since it's no longer necessary to rush everyone out of bed and out the door to school or camp by 8:30 sharp. I love the freedom from niggling worries about the contents of backpacks and forgotten water bottles or lunch money. Most of all, I love not having to nag about homework every night. I love the variety of ripe produce at the farmer's market and time it takes to prepare wonderful meals with fresh ingredients, I love that people in our little town are out and about with their dogs and children from the early morning hours till late into the evening, I love not wearing four layers of clothing. And as much as I love the MMO, I also love being able to take time away from it.

I'll be heading to Seattle early next month to attend and make a couple of presentations at the Take Back Your Time Conference (August 4 -7), so naturally I've been thinking about time, work and caregiving. The question of how we experience and interpret the inevitable conflicts of attachment and separation -- to and from routines, jobs, children, lovers/spouses, ideas -- has been knocking around gently in my head. Whether we talk about work-life "balance" or work life-integration, the disconnect is usually posed as a conflict between paid work and caring work in a social system that's much more work-friendly than family- or worker-friendly. But caregivers -- mothers, fathers, friends and family members -- need more than just time to work and time to care, plus a few hours on the side for sleep and self-improvement. We need breathing room, time and psychic space set apart from the carefully orchestrated schedules and master plans of our lives. It seems to me that without that opportunity for release, we risk becoming numb to the possibility of leading our lives in a different and more satisfying way. We fall prey to the myth of the quick fix; we lose our capacity to imagine a better world, and our patience with the painful reality that meaningful change -- particularly on a societal scale -- takes time, and lots of it. Perhaps I'll remember this summer as my philosophical summer, or maybe I'll just remember how much I enjoyed the laziness of it.

I suspect my present preoccupation with the value of slowing down and paying attention is closely related to my gut sense that things are going to heat up for the mothers' movement in the very near future. Earlier this month, the National Organization for Women adopted its first comprehensive resolution on mothers'/caregivers' economic rights since the organization passed a Homemakers' Bill of Rights in 1978. The successful passage of the 2005 resolution was the result of the dedication and hard work of NOW-New Jersey activists with input and encouragement from leaders of Mothers & More and the National Association of Mother's Centers. And, yeah, I helped out a little bit, too. Needless to say, this is great news for feminist mothers (and fathers) who think about social change. A special report on the history of the NOW Mothers'/Caregivers' Economic Rights resolution and details about how to get involved in your state appears in the feature section of this edition.

Jane Lazarre, author of the acclaimed motherhood memoir, The Mother Knot (1976), has devoted much of her life's work to exploring -- often through the lens of her own motherhood -- the personal and political, love and work, finding a true voice, and the real and imposed boundaries of race, gender and privilege that separate us. Lazarre was gracious enough to agree to an interview with the MMO and responds eloquently to questions about motherhood, creativity, social justice and the past and future of the women's movement. As a mother of adult sons, Lazarre's insights and body of work remind us that our motherhood always matters -- our immediate obligations and perspectives may change over time, but motherhood never stops informing who we are and what we want from the world. Read the interview, "A sort of perfection," in this month's edition.

On a similar note, two recent studies suggest that regardless of their political leanings, the ethical outlooks of women voters and religious activists in the U.S. are strongly influenced by their experience and self-identification as caregivers. Even women voters without children were likely to report that "caring for others" is their most important role in life. MMO's summary of the findings with links to the reports and a selection of related articles leads this month's Noteworthy section. Also in the current edition of Noteworthy: A new UK study finds that fathers' depression during a child's post-natal period effects pre-schoolers' developmental outcomes, the U.S. government continues to misinform the public about teen reproductive health and sexuality, the usual assortment of links to relevant research, news and commentary on work-life issues and reproductive rights, and a short list of interesting essays and reader responses on what's become of feminism from Salon.

In the Essays section, you'll find a wonderful piece by first-time contributor Nandini Pandya on why we're asking the wrong questions about women and achievement. And in Books this month, we have a scathing review of Mary Eberstadt's Home-Alone America by regular contributor Shawna Goodrich, as well as a full review and excerpt from The Career Mystique: Cracks in the American Dream by sociologist Phyllis Moen and psychologist Patricia Roehling. Moen and Roehling examine the ties between the career mystique -- which they describe as "the expectation that employees will invest all their time, energy and commitment throughout their 'prime' adult years in their jobs, with the promise of moving up in seniority or ascending career ladders" -- and the feminine mystique, and suggest that the solution to the nation's time/gender/income inequality/caregiving crisis will require a direct challenge to the legitimacy of the career mystique and the inflexible roles, routines and regulations sustained by it.

Last but not least: The MMO received an unprecedented number of reader comments on last month's coverage of the fathers' rights movement, and I'm sorry to say some of the mail was not very nice. I've since learned from other writers and activists that this deluge of uncomplimentary and occasionally threatening remarks is something of a right of passage for anyone who dares to suggest the fathers' rights agenda is not as harmless as its proponents make it out to be. But the letters can speak for themselves; all are published verbatim, with a short editorial introduction, in this month's Letters.

As is the tradition, the MMO is taking the month of August off. I'll be on the road with my family and continuing my leisurely meditations on time to work/time to care and the future of the mothers' movement. But September is coming soon, and we'll be back to our mid-month publication schedule with an issue on Motherhood and Identity. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the launch of mamazine, an exciting new web publication for politically-aware mothers that aims to fill the niche between HipMama and Brain,Child.

As always, the MMO welcomes submissions of essays, commentaries, reviews, and articles from new and seasoned readers. You can find more information about content guidelines and download the editorial calendar from the submissions page. The submission deadline for the September issue is August 25th, and submissions for our October issue on "Motherhood" versus "Mothering" are due on September 25th.

Embarrassing technical glitch du jour: It was recently brought to my attention that the email link on the MMO eList subscription page was not always working. The problem has been resolved, so if you tried to sign up for free updates announcing new content on the site before June 15 and have not received one yet, please try again.

Thanks once again to all our past and present contributors, and to the ever-growing web of friends and supporters of the MMO who've been spreading the word about the site. The road to social change may be long and rough, but it's always good to know we're not going it alone.

In solidarity,

Judith Stadtman Tucker
Editor, The Mothers Movement Online
editor@mothersmovement.org

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© 2003-2008 The Mothers Movement Online.

editor@mothersmovement.org

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