“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
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