The White House Working Families Summit was the biggest thing to happen here in ages for the circle of women’s rights advocates in which I orbit. So many things about it were right – a sense of jubilation, a racially and ethnically diverse group of attendees, a variety of ages, income levels, and a good [...]
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Brigid Schulte,”Overwhelmed”, and YOU - Part Two
Two weeks ago I posted the first part of my interview with Brigid Schulte, Washington Post reporter and author of Overwhelmed; Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time, her just-published study of the effect of living at warp speed and the unrealistic and unnecessary expectations of workers and parents. You can refresh your memory [...]
Paycheck to Paycheck, The Disaster Waiting to Happen
On Monday, March 17, you can watch The Shriver Report’s new documentary “Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert” on HBO. This film traces the daily frustrations of a single mother of three kids who works as a direct care aide in a nursing home. While the film drills down into the details [...]
Closer Than You Think
I wrote this post for the Mothers Central Blog, where it appeared on January 16, 2014. Kate Fineske, the mother-in-charge of the site, graciously gave me permission to cross post it on my own blog, where you will find it in full below. Check out the rest of Kate’s collection about parenting, motherhood, and how [...]
Hitting the Maternal Wall
Having a baby is amazing. It will turn your life upside down with changes. But change is not happening when it comes to mothers’ mobility between work and home. Educated women with professional jobs, as fortunate as they are, still have a lot to worry about. As you read this message from a follower of [...]
What the Government Shutdown Does to Women
The shutdown of the federal government is disastrous for millions of women, families, and households across America. A few examples: Almost 9 million mothers and children under five lost their vouchers for food, baby formula, and breastfeeding support under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC; Head Start and Early Head Start, [...]
Mothers’ Rights Depend on the State You’re In
Those smart and savvy moms at A Better Balance have written a book that will be your “go to guide” for workplace policies relevant to your pregnancy, maternity leave, and working life as a parent. Dina Bakst, Phoebe Taubman and Elizabeth Gedmark are the authors of Babygate: What You Really Need To Know About Pregnancy [...]
Motherhood 101
Quite unexpectedly, I recently met Nicole Lynn Lewis, Founder and CEO of Generation Hope. You don’t meet a mom with her very own non-profit every day, let alone one so closely tied to the mission of maternal support and encouragement, so I was instantly intrigued. She graciously let me follow up after our great conversation with some [...]
“Mothers Unite! Organizing for Workplace Flexibility and the Transformation of Family Life” by Jocelyn Elise Crowley
It is very loud in the second-floor meeting room of a public library in a medium-size eastern city, the noise coming from twelve toddlers, all under the age of four, running around the room. At this meeting of the local NAMC chapter, eleven group members have put their chairs in a circle in preparation for [...]
Single Mothers, Double Standard
A lot of press about single mothers seemed to surface this week, I’m not sure why. It’s on my radio (NPR, Tell Me More) and in my morning paper (The Difference Between Feeling Like a Single Mom and Being One, WashPost, 4/18,2013). Whatever it used to mean, as an identifier “single mother” it is not very [...]
Mothers Book Bag on Goodreads.com
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