NEWS BRIEF: Only 50 Percent of U.S. First-Time Mothers Receive Paid Leave

A new Census Bureau report shows that, from 2001-2008, the percentage of first-time mothers receiving paid leave before and after childbirth leveled off at a mere 50 percent. As usual, the most vulnerable women–low-income women, women of color, young women and less-educated women–had the least access to paid leave. By the numbers: 50.8 percent: From [...]

A Woman’s Work on Economic Equality is Never Done

A divorced janitor–a 27-year employee and the mother of a 17-year old son with the mental capacity of an 18-month old–fails to report for mandatory overtime one Saturday when her son’s caregiver could not work because of a sick child. The janitor calls twice and leaves a message for her manager. She gets fired. As [...]

Women’s Equality Day: What the Heck Do I Tell My Daughter?

Today is Women’s Equality Day. At the center of my mind today is: What the heck do I tell my daughter? How do I tell my daughter about the fact that despite many gains made for women’s (and mothers’) equality, women still don’t earn equal pay for equal work? Women now make, on average, only [...]

Creepy Anti-Choice Horror Film Says Women Who Get Abortions Go to Hell

I am not especially drawn to horror films. And there’s one I know for sure I won’t be viewing: The Life Zone. Just watching the trailer was more than enough punishment. If you happened to catch Stephen Colbert’s commentary on this anti-choice propaganda piece, you know that the film is about three pregnant women who have [...]

Hip Mama: For Uncommon Parents

Crack open issue number 47 of Hip Mama—The Body Issue—and here’s what you get: a photograph of a pregnant woman in the desert, posed like a warrior, belly full and exposed; a piece about the physical changes birthing can bring, complete with a photograph of the author’s sagging bum and loose tummy skin; “99 reasons to [...]

Song of Bernadette: An Irish-Catholic Mother’s Tale

The 20th century Ireland of my mother’s childhood was marked with class distinction, the stigma attached to poorness inescapable. The Catholic Church influenced everything. Irish children attended Catholic schools where nuns, priests and brothers often stifled potential and crushed dreams.  There was much these children had to overcome. My mother was born a lefty, but [...]

Motherhood and Feminism, Part 2

In Part 1, I figured out how to be both a good mother and a good professor. Even though being out of the mom closet seems to be more acceptable in academia these days, there are nevertheless those higher up–deans, provosts, presidents–who one hesitates to tell. While society seems to believe a male can do [...]

Best Mother’s Day Gift Ever: Reproductive Rights

We celebrate our mothers on the second Sunday in May, ostentatiously paying tribute with dinners, cards, flowers and gifts. The rest of the time–not so much. Anti-choice politicians are particularly guilty in this regard, portraying mothers and potential mothers as rash, uninformed, naïve and/or foolish–in need of guidance from the wise ones in Washington, state [...]

Motherhood and Feminism, Part 1

I did not expect that being a mother would make me more of a feminist. In fact, I feared quite the opposite, worrying that my feminist convictions would wane under the weight of overfilled diaper bags and the expansive responsibilities of caring for an infant. When I had my first child, a son, just after [...]

Not Your Mama’s Memoir

Popular mothering memoirs seem to fall into one of two categories. Either they subscribe to the humorous approach, in which the author focuses on the bodily functions, hormones and general hilarity of pregnancy and child-rearing, or they’re the heartfelt, saccharine, love-fest memoir (and yes, Jenny McCarthy has written books in both flavors). Refreshingly, Bring Down [...]

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