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Noteworthy

From the April 2004 edition:


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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Previously in MMO Noteworthy ...
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© 2003-2008 The Mothers Movement Online.

editor@mothersmovement.org

The Mothers Movement Online