Happy
Anniversary, MMO!
With this
issue, the Mothers
Movement Online marks
its first anniversary, and it’s been a great year. When I first considered
launching the MMO, I was inspired by the wise words of Martin
Luther King, Jr.: “Human salvation lies in
the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” Since
I was pretty confident I fit the job description, I dived
right in, not knowing quite what to expect or what the response
to a non-commercial Web site devoted to motherhood as a social
issue would be.
The response has been
phenomenal. One of the most remarkable and gratifying aspects
of publishing the MMO has been hearing from mothers from all
over the world who are eager to share their thinking and writing
on motherhood. Many of these readers have also become contributors,
and their voices sound a ringing note in the emerging popular
discourse on who mothers really are and what they really do.
Public attention to
motherhood issues seems to be on the rise. Although groups
like Mothers & More and
the National Association of
Mothers Centers have been committed
to mothers advocacy for nearly two decades, it’s possible
that we are finally approaching the cultural moment when real
change begins. But
we still have a long way to go. Media reporting on motherhood
remains resolutely stuck in the either/or divide on mothers
and paid employment and focuses disproportionately on the work/life
conflicts of married, educated white professionals. As Susan
Douglas and Meredith
Michaels point out in their new book The
Mommy Myth, unrealistic and unfair stereotypes of “good” and “bad” mothers
still abound. Things aren’t looking too hot on the public
policy front, either, thanks to long-term political ennui concerning
the welfare of America’s working families and the current
Administration’s attempts to eviscerate federal programs
and regulations that support them.
So there is plenty
of work yet to be done. As the interest in motherhood as a
social issue grows, so too must the MMO. In the coming year,
the Web
site will be offering the same high-quality topical content
you’ve come to expect, just more of it. We’ll be
working on formalizing some of the operations of the MMO, and
in the next 12 to 18 months we hope to offer more structured
opportunities for those who would like to become involved in
the editorial and production end of the site. Meanwhile, I’ll
be plugging away. And keep those emails coming to editor@mothersmovement.org.
Judith “I
Love This Job” Stadtman
Tucker
Editor and Publisher, The Mothers Movement Online
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“What
Motherhood Does To and For You”
Brain,
Child Magazine editors Stephanie
Wilkinson and Jennifer
Niesslein set out to determine exactly
what motherhood does to you—what it does to “your
body, your mind, your finances, you relationships… Is
motherhood good for you? Bad for you? Or like life in general,
unpredictable measures of both?”
Their feature essay,
which appears in the Spring 2004 issue of Brain, Child (it’s
also available online), reports on official estimates of just
how much it costs to raise a child (a lot), reviews studies
on the long-term health effects of child-bearing, interviews
the authors of a book that suggests mothers are especially
susceptible to a spectrum of low-level psychological and physical
disorders they describe as “Maternal Depletion Syndrome,” and
looks at scientific research that shows motherhood may make
you smarter and nicer (at least if you’re a rat). Great
reading and informative to boot.
Brain,
Child
Magazine (www.brainchildmag.com)
“What
Motherhood Does To and For You”
by Stephanie
Wilkinson and Jennifer Niesslien
On
the MMO:
An interview with Stephanie Wilkinson and Jennifer Niesslien
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Women’s
eNews reports on the mothers movement
On April 7, Women’s
eNews (www.womensenews.org)
published a feature article on the emerging mothers movement.
The story profiles the organizations Mothers & More and MOTHERS and
includes comments from Susan Douglas, co-author of The
Mommy Myth.
Mothers
Press for Care-Giving Work Credit, Respect
By Luchina Fisher, WeNews correspondent
In the United States, mothers are calling for more attention to the employment
constraints they face and the work they do as caregivers. Web sites, organizations
and books are springing up around the country to demand more benefits and recognition.
More
reporting from Women’s eNews:
Marriage
Rates Rise for Educated Women
Run Date: 04/06/04, By Kelly DiNardo - WeNews correspondent
A new analysis of U.S. census data indicates that--despite cultural messages
to the contrary--the success gap, in which better educated women marry less,
is actually shrinking.
U.S.
Women Lack Health Insurance, Access to Care
Run date 3/26/04, By Molly M. Ginty - WeNews correspondent
The first of a series on health insurance and women: Women's eNews looks
at research by the Kaiser Family Foundation that shows that a significant number
of U.S. women under 64 lack health insurance and that others face barriers
to adequate care.
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New
developments in Utah C-section case
On April 7, a woman
charged with first-degree murder in the death of her fetus
plead guilty to two lesser charges of child endangerment. Advocates
are outraged, claiming the original murder charge was unconstitutional
and should have been dropped.
Melissa Rowland, 28,
has been in a Salt Lake City prison since early January, when
Utah prosecutors charged her with “depraved indifference” resulting
in the death of her male fetus. Rowland, who has a long history
of mental illness, had declined doctors’ recommendations
for an emergency Ceasarean section on two occasions in the
weeks before she delivered (by C-section) one live and one
stillborn twin. Prosecutors claim Rowland’s refusal to
submit to an earlier C-section caused the fetal death. The
living infant also tested positive for cocaine exposure, which
is a prosecutable offense under Utah law; sentencing guidelines
for endangering a fetus through substance abuse call for a
prison sentence of 0-5 years.
Rowland’s sentencing
is scheduled for April 29. The plea agreement will allow her
to leave prison and undergo mandatory drug treatment with unsupervised
probation out-of-state. According to an article from Associated
Press, Rowland’s attorney said that Rowland was presented
with “all her options” and “decided it was
in her best interest to resolve the case as soon as possible.”
In a press release
undersigned by nine women’s organizations, Lorna Vogt
of the Utah Progressive Network states: “They cut a deal
with a frightened woman who has no resources and no money.
They have hung her with two bogus felony charges instead of
dropping all charges as the law would demand”.
For
further information on the Melissa Rowland case, visit the Melissa
Anne Rowland Support Coalition of the Utah Progressive
Network
April 7, 2004 Press
release from the Utah Progressive Network:
Melissa
Rowland Guilty on False Charges: Women Demand to Know: Am
I Next? (in pdf)
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Elsewhere
online…
From the March
2004 issue of The American
Prospect (www.prospect.org):
The
New Case for Marriage by Margaret Morganroth
Guilette
Morganroth Giulette muses on same-sex marriage, feminism, motherhood and 39
years of matrimony. She writes: “Every new birth… obliquely announces
the possible onset of the Equality Wars. The lack of child care in the United
States is as bad as ever, adding domestic uneasiness to work worries. Insecurity
and overtime in the workforce lead to more stress in the relationship, felt
by both the parents who work double shifts and the children who miss them.
Young mothers may have to fight even more fiercely inside their frail, heterosexual
dyads than mothers in my generation to avoid the ‘compromises,’ or
postponements and defeats, that we suffered while our male partners continued
on their culturally lightened careers and job paths.”
— MMO,
April 2004
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