Posts Tagged ‘mothers’
Mother's Day Round-up
This week’s roundup not surprisingly centers on Mother’s Day. The links are to a small selection of posts I liked because each has a special take on honoring our mothers by living feminist values, proudly and with no excuses:
Viva la Feminista Gift Guide. Viva la Feminista. (Veronica Areola)
Mother’s Day should last all month. The Pink and Blue Diaries. (Deborah Siegel)
A Mother’s Day Gift: A future without violence. Ms. Magazine. (Carol King)
Make your Mom a star: send a customized video. Moms Rising.
“Its Her Choice”–Really? Heartfeldt Blog.(Ann Crittenden)
Have you written a special Mother’s Day post? Feel free to share the link in the comments section.
Have you read a Mother’s Day post that you particularly liked? Please share that too.
Read MoreBella Abzug and Florence Feldt: Contrasts in Women's History
Since we’re wrapping up Women’s History Month, this tribute to my mother, Florence Feldt, and feminist icon Bella Abzug–two very different women from the same generation who died on this day in 1998–seems a fitting close.
I hope that you’ve been inspired by this month’s posts, and that they help you create the future of your choice!
My mother Florence Feldt died March 31, 1998.
[caption id="attachment_4037" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Me, my cutie pie sister Candy, and our mother, Florence"][/caption] Read More
“It’s Her Choice” – Really?
Thanks to Ann Crittenden for submitting this guest post, which was originally published at Moms Rising Ann shows that the politics and personal aspects of motherhood are very intertwined. Be sure to check out Ann’s book The Price of Motherhood for a more in depth look.
I was struck recently by the persistence of an old argument used to kill the Fair Pay Act – and every other measure that would make life easier for mothers. You know it by heart: many women “choose” to earn less than men, and if they choose to earn less, then what’s the big deal about a little wage inequality?
This so-called “choice” argument can be superficially persuasive. Most women probably do prefer cleaner, relatively lower-paying jobs. Most women would rather be beauticians than coal miners, art teachers than mechanics. (Although this begs the question why teachers and beauticians earn so much less than mechanics and miners). Women working full-time often work fewer hours (for pay) than full-time working men. And in recent surveys, far more working women than men say they would prefer to work part-time.
Women, in short, are different from men. They’re just not as into dirt, long hours and making money. Maybe they are just …. more French!
But before you buy into this one, remember that those who benefit from the status quo always attribute inequities to the choices of the underdog. And women are still underdogs in the job market. Women working 40 hours a week still earn 86 cents for every dollar a man earns, a bigger gap than in many developed countries with more family-friendly policies. But if American women accept this willingly, then there’s nothing to worry about. It’s their choice. No one “made them do it.” So no one has to do anything about it.
Read MoreThe Problematic of Work Life Balance Part 3: To Be or not to Be Gender Differences
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This is the third and last (for now at least) of Debjani Chakravarty’s series exploring work life balance through the lens of economic and political culture. in this post, she asks the question of whether work life balance can or should be gender neutral. Debjani is a graduate student and artist, currently pursuing a PhD in the Women and Gender Studies Program at Arizona State University. She has worked as a journalist and social worker in India.
Rebecca is a grad student, and she works part time at Starbucks. She is getting a degree in social work, hopeful of pursuing a career she’s passionate about. She also works as an editor and ghost writer on the side. When I ask Rebecca about work life balance, she says, “Strange I never think about it. My parents never went to college and they never left their little Ohio town where I grew up. For them, my life’s a dream come true, and they are hopeful that someday I’ll be able to do all those things that they only planned about, travel, work a respectable job, buy a big house. Work life balance, let’s see. For me it’s about taking the occasional Adderall, so that I can keep working. My life’s on hold right now, work is all that matters.”
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