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In this edition:

from the editor:

The art of keeping up
Since the beginning of this year, I've struggled to satisfy a multitude of conflicting obligations without letting go of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the direction of my country by working to elect a transformative leader. To readers and contributing writers who've been waiting to see fresh content published on the MMO: my sincerest apologies.

features:

Mothers on the tenure track
"Another interesting and troubling finding is that even full professors with tenure had horrifying stories to tell. One would hope that with such power and security, this would exempt you from mother discrimination, but it doesn't." A conversation with Caroline Grant, Elrena Evans, and Andrea O'Reilly about motherhood and the clockwork of academic careers.
Interview by Heather Hewett

Power in a movement
Enough talk, already. It's time for the mothers' movement to get organized -- or risk missing our window of opportunity.
By Judith Stadtman Tucker

Immigration is a mother's issue
The story of immigration, and the policy debates now circling around the topic are strikingly gendered, and ignore the reality of mothers and their children. So too do the writings and public conversations on motherhood often exclude the stories of immigrant mothers.
By Gretchen Hunt

One city. One blog. A whole lotta mamas.
The Activistas are ready for the revolution. Our goal? Nothing less than electing supportive legislators, improving laws and forcing better private-sector policies that affect families in Oregon and beyond.
By Lisa Frack

Solving the flexibility puzzle
Flexibility is essential for the success of all the purposeful things we do, yet few communities, or companies, or even households are organized to provide working mothers with all the flexibility they need.
By Arthur Emlen

more features ...

the motherhood papers:

Random dispatches on motherhood, culture and politics
by MMO editor Judith Stadtman Tucker

The writing on the wall
The explosion of excellent media coverage on women and work-life issues, and what it means for the mothers' movement

The builders of new myths
Friedan, feminism and the future

The task before us now is to decide what we wish to be free from, and how that liberty can best be achieved.

Motherhood made me do it!
Or, how I became an activist
Before I became a mother, I wasn't much of an activist, or even much of a feminist.

The New Future of Motherhood
Mothers don’t “choose” their way into the motherhood problem, and we can’t choose our way out of it. So where do we go from here?

more in the motherhood papers ...

essays:

MILF:
Is the "hot moms movement" a sign of progress?

At first glance, the MILF phenomenon seems pretty liberating. But is it possible that the hot mom craze is just another way to make women who are not "hot," or don't feel "hot," feel lousy about it?
By Kathleen Furin

Anniversary
Suddenly every act seemed, potentially, to be the last time such an act would be carried out; every conversation, perhaps the last conversation. America was under siege; we were no longer immune, nested here between the oceans. We had been called to task: the next phase of history had begun.
By Jampa Williams

Unforgettable
I try to explain to people why I only want one child. I start to discuss what a traumatic childbirth entails, what postpartum depression is and what it can do to a family. Even the most sympathetic shoulder usually ends up telling me that I will forget the pain and the fear will go away.
By Carter-Ann Mahdavi

Knock me out!
When I handed my two page birth plan to the nurse, she almost looked amused. She knew what I didn't, that the only thing that ever goes "according to plan" during childbirth is that a baby is coming, and that it hurts like hell.
By Laura Owens

Craggy dancing
Life in a female body involves surrender to years of biophysical processes over which we have little or no personal control. Now, just as my three daughters become ripely adolescent, I am hitting my own hormonal stride. Or is that slide...? Yeah, definitely sliding.
By Dina Stander

more essays ...

commentary & opinion:

Through the looking glass
By Megan Beyer
I look like Hillary Clinton.

Governor Schwarzenegger vetoes families
By Kristin Maschka
Governor Schwarzenegger, as your boss, we'll be glad to let you use a day of leave to take care of your kids. As long as you make sure the rest of us can do the same.

Family politics:
How Democrats can reclaim family values

By Erica Etelson
Thanks to the emergence of a progressive parenthood movement, the one set of issues that could make or break any presidential bid is family policy.

more commentary & opinion ...

get active!

Actions:

National Women's Law Center:
Fair Pay Campaign

National Network of Abortion Funds:
30 Years is Enough!
Petition to repeal the Hyde Amendment

Have you experienced workplace discrimination because of your parental status or family responsibilities?
Contact the Center for WorkLife Law

One-click activism for mothers &
people who care about them:
MomsRising.org
Motherhood Manifesto DVD now available!

National Organization for Women:
Mothers & Caregivers Economic Rights

Causes:

MADRE Emergency and Disaster Relief Fund:
Crisis response that advances women's human rights

Atticus Circle
Straight people dedicated to advancing equal rights for LGBT partners, parents, and their children

books reviews:

Choice, in all its complexity
Choice: True Stories of Birth, Contraception, Infertility, Adoption, Single Parenthood and Abortion
Karen E. Bender and Nina de Gramont, Editors
Review by Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser

How the personal became political
Sisterhood, Interrupted:
From Radical Women to Grrls Gone Wild

By Deborah Siegel
Review by Judith Stadtman Tucker

Reality check
Opting Out?
Why Women Really Quit Careers and Head Home

By Pamela Stone
Review by Deborah Siegel

The disappeared
The Girls Who Went Away:
The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade

By Ann Fessler
Review by Carolyn McConnell

more reviews ...

also in mmo books:

Short Takes
Short reviews of recent and older works of note.

Currently in MMO Short Takes:

"When Mothers Work:
Loving Our Children Without Sacrificing Our Selves"

By Joan K. Peters

The MMO Book List
Essential reading for mothers who think about social change and other recommendations.

mail:

MMO welcomes reader mail.

In Letters:

"In Australia, our country has changed. Our federal election of November 2007 saw the end of a leader obsessed with economic growth at the expense of sustainability and social issues. Parliament resumed with a new leader who opened with a Welcome to Country from indigenous Australians, an apology to the Stolen Generation, a call to freeze the salary of parliamentarians and an appeal for bipartisan co-operation. It was an historic week."

Address your letters to mail@mothersmovement.org, or visit the mail page for more information.

resources:

The MMO maintains a resource bank of hundreds of web-accessible fact sheets, reports, research summaries, policy briefs and expert analyses on relevant issues.

 
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Upcoming
issues:

Coming in February:
New articles and interviews on opting in, mothers in academia, the father's rights movement, more.

Want social
change?

Get Active!
National Women's Law Center:
Fair Pay
Campaign
National Network of Abortion Funds:
30 Years is Enough!
Petition to repeal the Hyde Amendment

Have you experienced workplace discrimination because of your parental status
or family responsibilities? Contact the Center for WorkLife Law

One-click activism for mothers & people who care about them:
MomsRising.org

Motherhood
Manifesto DVD
now available!

NOW
Mothers & Caregivers Economic Rights Initiative

MADRE
Emergency & Disaster
Relief Fund

Crisis response that advances women's
human rights
Atticus Circle:
Straight people dedicated to advancing equal rights for LGBT partners, parents, and their children
 

Hey, what’s
going on here?

In MMO Noteworthy:
Reports on recent events and media coverage of mothers’ issues, plus summaries of important new resources for mothers and activists.

Tell your story!

Contribute your original writing to the MMO— essays, commentary, book reviews, or other non-fiction articles.

See the submissions page for more information.

Information
is power.

The MMO Resources sections offers links to recent articles and studies related to care & economics, care & politics, work & family, workplace issues, public policy and more.

 

Reuse of content for publication or compensation by permission only.
© 2003-2009 The Mothers Movement Online.

editor@mothersmovement.org

The Mothers Movement Online