joan's blog

Last weekend MomsRising hosted a remarkable conversation. I do confess that I was deeply anxious about gathering a multi-dimensionally diverse group for conversation about the women’s movement of the 21st century at the Omega Institute.

For Mother's Day this year Vocal Visions produced A CD, From A Mother's Heart, http://www.soundvisionsmedia.com/fromamothersheart.html , which is a compilation of songs done by recording artists for their Mothers. Not only that--they are dedicating a portion of their profits to MomsRising.org.

We have launched new blog that is crossposted at The HuffintonPost.com. It is about consciousness raising and culture change. Very few Americans realize that there is deep bias against mothers in this country and that we are undermining family's ability to care for children. I began to understand this a few years ago when I learned that equal pay for equal work is just as big a problem today as it was 40 years ago. I was shocked! Women without children now earn 90 cents to a man's dollar, mothers earn 73 cents, and single mothers earn about 60 cents to a man's dollar. A study done last year revealed that a mother is 79 percent less likely to be offered a job when all other factors -- including resumes, education, and job experience -- are equal. Ever wonder why there are so many women and children in poverty? Every wonder why there are so few women in leadership? Since over 80 percent of women become mothers I would say that women have a long way to go before they have equal opportunity in this country. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner and I wrote The Motherhood Manifesto and launched www.MomsRising.org in 2006 and FamiliesRising.org in 2007 with policy and culture change in mind.

MomsRising members are petitioning California leaders to pass AB 706 in order to ban toxic flame retardants in furniture. Sign the no toxic couches petition now by clicking here!

With all the recent press about toxic lead paint on our children's toys, and the lack of press about toxic flame retardants in our furniture, I'm becoming convinced that our government has utterly lost the ability to protect us, and our children, from dangerous products. In fact, in California the government is responsible for requiring toxic flame retardants in my furniture! (Your furniture too, this is a national issue, CA is such a big market that most furniture makers produce products so they can sell in CA and don't do anything different for the rest of the states.)

This week I learned about BlogHers Act from two MomsRising volunteers . BLOGHERS ACT is a year-long initiative by BlogHer.org (an association of 11,000+ women bloggers) to harness the incredible power of women online. This group intends to take on two initiatives: 1. Making a difference on a single global cause; and 2. Identifying the top four issues that women online want the U.S. Presidential candidates to address in order to win our votes in the ‘08 Election. The Announcement: http://blogher.org/node/20441

The Supreme Court just delivered a huge blow to the fight for equal pay for equal work. It told Lilly Ledbetter, a 60-year old "fiery mother of two," that even though, for years, she was paid between 15% and 40% less than her male counterparts on the management team (a fact she learned late in her 19 year career), she could not make a claim of workplace discrimination. Why couldn't she make a claim? Lily Ledbetter learned about the pay discrepancies too late. The court ruled that claims must be made within 180 days after the pay is set. But how many of us know what our co-workers make? In fact, it's illegal to ask in many states.

Thursday morning I saw a picture of Cho Seun-Hui looking like an action hero splashed across the front page of The New York Times and we've all seen the TV coverage. This week we have had a media feeding frenzy and frankly it endangers our kids. We've certainly been aware of the copycat effect fueled by intense media coverage of school killings since Columbine. But sadly, with the media, if it bleeds it leads….even when this almost certainly contributes to future tragedies:

This week I had the deep satisfaction of seeing respectful debate arise among MomsRising members about whether or not the Imus petition was within the MomsRising agenda. It's wonderful to hear our members speak passionately about our shared mission.

I want to share the process by which we came to the petition because it is the product of an important dialog within MomsRising core team that brought us all to a deeper understanding of our work at MomsRising and our connection to each other. The outcome was the E-outreach we sent on Wednesday, the day the sad faces of the young women of the Rutgers Women's basketball team were on the front page of the New York Times. The discussion started Tuesday when one member of our team sent a query to all asking whether we should respond to the comments made by Don Imus. Many of us weren't sure that this issue had a strong enough connection to the MomsRising mission. Then Anita--new mom of a beautiful bi-racial baby girl--spoke. Her words were gentle but strong: this hurt her, as a mother. She was clear that she was ready to work for a culture that would not tolerate this kind of public entertainment, for soon her daughter would grow old enough to experience the indignity, the hurt. Our team has diverse voices and, as we dug in, we came to the conclusion that, indeed, as a voice for mothers and as mothers ourselves, we should speak up and condemn Imus'public humiliation of the young Rutgers women.

The "Power of ONEsie" campaign is off to a great start—in less than a week, hundreds of MomsRising members have already decorated and sent, or specially purchased online, baby onesies for us to display in Washington State this Thursday in support of paid family leave. Thank you. Let's keep the chain growing!

We're building this ONEsie chain to represent the real moms, dads, kids, aunts, uncles, and grandparents who support building a truly family-friendly America, but can't be at state capitals and other events around the nation in person because they are working, caring for family, or going to school. With your help, we're spreading the word and adding to the ONEsie project. As it grows, it will be displayed to put family issues on center stage from Washington State to Washington D.C. We've only just begun...

If you want to be convinced that MomsRising is needed, check out the the responses to my piece on the Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-blades/indiscriminate-breeders_b_36682.html and to my previous article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-blades/should-society-support-mo_b_36382.html. Even though it's one of the most heavily commented on articles of the day, it's disturbing how many people are against building a family-friendly America. This online dialog reveals just how important our work is! Frankly, it's time to expose the strong resistance to supporting families in our country. Let's educate people about current realities!