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Noteworthy

From the January 2004 edition:

  • Work sucks
    Survey finds more than half of American workers are unhappy with their jobs

“Opt Out Revolution”
one of most emailed NY Times articles of 2003

According to a year end summary by the New York Times, Lisa Belkin’s report on affluent mothers abandoning their elite professional careers in order to pursue the joys of domesticity (“The Opt Out Revolution”, The New York Times Magazine, October 26, 2003) was one of the top five magazine stories emailed from the Times Web site last year. Hopefully, Belkin’s wrongheaded article (arch-antifeminist Phyllis Schlafly loved it -- need we say more?) will be remembered for reinvigorating the public dialog about motherhood, feminism, and employment. For MMO's commentary on “The Opt Out Revolution” and links to other critiques of the article, read The least worst choice: Why mothers “opt” out of the workforce.

Phyllis Schlafly: “Feminism Is Mugged by Reality”
November 3, 2003, The Eagle Forum
The feminist revolution that swept across America in the 1970s promoted the dream of a land in which at least half of corporate officers, Fortune 500 C.E.Os, partners in law firms, and doctors would be women… But a funny thing happened on the way to achieving that promise. Feminism was mugged by the reality that most women don't seek those goals. How the best and the brightest are rejecting the career track laid out for them by the feminists is detailed in a lengthy new article titled ‘The Opt-Out Revolution’ by Lisa Belkin.

“The Opt-Out Revolution” by Lisa Belkin

Reprinted by The White House Project (www.whitehouseproject.org)

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Elsewhere on the Web:
Recent news and commentary from other online resources

From Women’s eNews (www.womensenews.org)
Reports on the rising number of midwives being forced out of business, a new government study about the widening wage gap, and the politics behind a national health campaign to promote breastfeeding:

Midwives Popular, But More Forced out of Business
Run Date: 12/12/03
By Asjylyn Loder, WeNews correspondent
Even as demand for midwives increases in the United States, many are being forced out of business, leaving pregnant women with fewer options.

Year Ends With Wider-Than-Ever Wage Gap
Run Date: 12/30/03
By Luchina Fisher, WeNews correspondent
Women's pay gap in 2003 is actually wider than it was 20 years ago. As a consequence, baby boomer women face a financial crisis, with far less money than men to pay for their typically longer retirement years.

Teeth Cut from Breastfeeding Campaign
Run Date: 12/22/03
By Luchina Fisher, WeNews correspondent
Statistics in a government-sponsored ad campaign focusing on the health risks of not breastfeeding infants have been removed, apparently because of protests from the formula industry and the heads of an organization of pediatricians.

Note: The Mothers Movement Online does not take a position on the breast vs. bottle debate, but does believe that no mother should be made to feel she is putting her child at unnecessary risk if she is unable or unwilling to breastfeed for an extended period, or at all. We hope to explore the cultural, political and economic implications of breastfeeding advocacy in greater depth in a future edition.

From Salon (www.salon.com)
A team of sociologists characterizes yelling at your kids as “abusive” parenting and commentary about designer furnishings for kids and why we really want them:

Because I Said So!
A new study says that yelling at your children -- even if you're trying to protect them -- is “psychological aggression.”
By Christopher Healy

Parenting through art direction
A certain breed of parent is happily buying postmodern rugs, art deco lamps and vintage sports posters for their children. But who are these items really for?
By Christopher Healy

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Work sucks

The Conference Board, an international organization tracking business and economic trends (www.conference-board.org), released its 2003 report on the job satisfaction of American workers. The survey found that job satisfaction is at its lowest point since the group began the study in 1995 – today, less than half of U.S. workers are happy with their jobs -- and that discontent is growing among workers of all ages and incomes in all regions of the country. Workers did like some things about their jobs -- they had the fewest complaints about their co-workers and commutes. But only 1 out of every 5 were satisfied with their company’s promotion policy and bonus plan, and only 1 out of every 3 were content with their employer’s plans for health care coverage, pensions, flexible scheduling and family leave. Workers between the ages of 35 and 44 suffered the greatest decline in job satisfaction; satisfaction for this group dropped from 61 percent in 1995 to 47 percent in 2003.

America’s Unhappy Workforce: Job Satisfaction Continues to Wither,
by Lynn Franco, The Conference Board, Executive Action No. 69, September 2003

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News flash:
U.S. women still having babies, working for pay

New report on fertility of American women, mothers’ workforce participation available

The U.S. Census Bureau (www.census.gov) recently published its biennial report on the characteristics of women who give birth in the U.S. (Fertility of American Women: June 2002, October 2003). Conclusion: women are still having babies. In 2002, 82 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 44 had given birth. 54.6 percent of mothers who had given birth in the previous 12 months worked for pay, with 34 percent working full-time and 16 percent working part-time; for all other mothers, 72 percent were in the paid workforce with 51 percent working full-time and 16 percent working part-time. Except for a one-time uptick to 59 percent in 1998, the workforce participation of new mothers (those with infants aged 12 months or younger) has been relatively stable at 54 to 55 percent since 1993.

The overall birth rate in the U.S. continues to decline, partly because fewer women are having children -- between 1977 and 2002, the number of women who had given birth to a least one child by the age of 44 fell from 90 percent to 82 percent. -- but also because women are having fewer children. 1976, more than 1 out of every 3 mothers had four or more children by the age of 44; by 2002, only 1 out of every 10 mothers had super-sized broods. Despite the downturn in fertility in the late 20th century – which corresponds to a much larger historical trend -- it seems unlikely that a majority of women are going to throw in the towel on maternity anytime soon.

Fertility of America Women: June 2003 (in .pdf)

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More data from report on the changing workforce

In September, The Families and Work Institute (www.familiesandwork.org) published its 2002 report for the National Study of the Changing Workforce. The study, which is published every five years, is full of accessible and relevant information about women in the workforce and dual-earner couples. The 2002 report also includes findings about “the role of technology in employees’ lives on and off the job, work-life supports on the job, working for oneself versus someone else.”

The 2002 NSCW found that more than two out of every five male workers surveyed for the study, and 37 percent of female workers, agreed that “men should earn the money and women should stay home minding the house and children”. This is a definite improvement since 1977 -- when only 26 percent of men “felt it was OK for women to enter the workforce and contribute to the family income rather than stay home” -- but let’s face it, the climate of American workplace is still less than ideal for women with young children.

Notably, in 2002 both men and women in dual-earner couples with children were significantly more likely to prefer the traditional division of breadwinning dad/caregiving mom (42 percent of men and 48 percent of women) than dual-earner couples without children (32 percent of men and 34 percent of women). The authors of the 2002 NSCW remarked that “The challenge or anticipated challenge of raising children induces a change of attitude, if not employment behavior, in some people.”

The Executive Summary of the 2002 NSCW is available from the Families and Work Institute Web site and the full report may be purchased for download in pdf.

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— MMO January 2004


Other past editions of MMO Noteworthy ...
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