MOTHERS Book Bag

Vote Mother: The Maternal is Political

As we enter convention season for both the Democrats and the Repulicans, it seems fitting that The Maternal Is Political: Women Writers at the Intersection of Motherhood and Social Change is our choice.

Exploring the vital connection between motherhood and social change, editor Shari MacDonald Strong features more than 40 powerful, hard-hitting literary essays by women who are striving to make the world a better place for children and families — both their own and other women’s — in this country and globally.

Some of the writers showcased in The Maternal Is Political include:

• Barbara Kingsolver
• Anne Lamott
• Anna Quindlen
• Marrit Ingman, author of Inconsolable: How I Threw My Mental Health Out With the Diapers
• Judith Stadtman Tucker of The Mothers Movement Online
• Ann Douglas
• Stephanie Wilkinson and Jennifer Niesslein, co-founders of Brain, Child: the Magazine for Thinking Mothers
• Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House and author of the recently released Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters

To quote the back of the book,

"The saying is true: The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world. And the world has never needed mothers more.

…The Maternal Is Political is a comfort, an inspiration, fuel for the fires, and a roadmap to a better future…for us and for all our children."

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, because MOTHERS knows that the maternal is truly the political. It's our cause and our passion.

Caring Economics: Riane Eisler and The Real Wealth of Nations

This month MOTHERS recommends The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics by eminent social scientist Riane Eisler who shows that the great problems of our time - poverty, inequality, war, terrorism, and environmental degradation - are due to flawed economic systems that set the wrong priorities and misallocate resources.

What's new, you say? Well, Eisler shows that since conventional economic models fail to value and support the most essential human work - caring and caregiving - basic human needs are neglected. Despair and ecological destruction escalate, and the resulting social tensions fuel many of the conflicts we face today.

Eisler offers a bold reformation: a caring economics that transcends traditional categories like capitalist and socialist and offers enormous economic and social benefits. She describes business policies and practices, innovative economic indicators that incorporate caregiving activities, and new social structures. And she lays out practical steps we can take to move towards a society based on this more humane economic model.

MOTHERS knows you'll find The Real Wealth of Nations a thought provoking read along with our MOTHERS interview with Riane Eisler, excerpts of her book, and links to interviews, videos and reviews around the Web.

Synopsis: Mothers on the Fast Track

In Mothers on the Fast Track: How a New Generation Can Balance Family and Careers, author Mary Ann Mason traces the career paths of the first generation of ambitious women who started careers in the 1970s and '80s. Many women who had started families but continued working had ended up veering off the path to upper management at a point she calls "the second glass ceiling." Rather than sticking to their original career goals, they allowed themselves to slide into a second tier of management that offers fewer hours, less pay, lower prestige, and limited upward mobility.

Men who did likewise - entered the career world with high aspirations and then started families while working - not only did not show the same trend, they reached even higher levels of professional success than men who had no families at all.

Mason has written a guide for young women who are facing the tough decision of when - and if - to start a family. It is also a guide for older women seeking a second chance to break through to the next level, as Mason herself did in academia.

Mothers on the Fast Track features anecdotes and strategies from the dozens of women they interviewed. Advice ranges from the personal (know when to say "no," the importance of time management) to the institutional, with suggestions for how the workplace itself can be changed to make it easier for ambitious working mothers to reach the top levels. The result is a roadmap of new choices for women facing the sobering question of how to balance a successful career with family.

Click here to read sample chapters.

Synopsis of The Feminine Mistake

Women are constantly being told -- by the media and elsewhere -- that it’s simply too difficult to balance work and family, so if they don’t really "have to" work, it’s better for their families if they stay home. Not only is this untrue, Leslie Bennetts says, but the arguments in favor of stay-at-home motherhood fail to consider the surprising benefits of work and the unexpected toll of giving it up. It’s time, she says, to get the message across -- combining work and family really is the best choice for most women, and it’s eminently doable. "You never know what you can achieve until you try," Bennetts says.

Leslie Bennetts raised two children while earning a living, and understands the challenges and the rewards firsthand. She and millions of other working women provide ample proof that there are many different ways to have kids, maintain a challenging career, and have a richly rewarding life as a result. Earning money and being successful make women feel great, and when women sacrifice their financial autonomy by quitting their jobs, they become vulnerable to divorce as well as the potential illness, death, or unemployment of their breadwinner husbands. The truth is that when women gamble on dependency, most eventually end up on the wrong side of the odds.

A Synopsis of The Motherhood Manifesto

Women shouldn't be discriminated against simply because they are mothers...but they are!

The Motherhood Manifesto shares the heartfelt stories of mothers in America who dream of jobs with flexibility and benefits, mothers who can't afford their children's health and childcare expenses, and mothers who, time and time again, are penalized for raising a new generation.

From professional women who hit the maternal wall, to childcare workers who can't afford quality care for their own children, this book captures what it means to be a mother in America today.

This groundbreaking book also celebrates the successes of companies that have discovered the value of good family policies, families who are making it work, model childcare programs, and legislation that supports families.

We need to open a whole new conversation about motherhood in the twenty-first century by illuminating the universal needs of America's mothers and spelling out concrete solutions that will provide families—whether rich, poor, or middle class—with real relief.

The good news is there are plenty of workplace success stories, and all can learn from these successes. Our country can change—and together we can launch the movement to see to it that it does.

Synopsis of Steiner's "Mommy Wars"

With motherhood comes one of the toughest decisions of a woman’s life: Stay at home or pursue a career? The dilemma not only divides mothers into hostile, defensive camps but pits individual mothers against themselves. Leslie Morgan Steiner has been there. As an executive at The Washington Post, a writer, and mother of three, she has lived and breathed every side of the “mommy wars.” Rather than just watch the battles rage, Steiner decided to do something about it. She commissioned twenty-six outspoken mothers to write about their lives, their families, and the choices that have worked for them. The result is a frank, surprising, and utterly refreshing look at American motherhood.

Ranging in age from twenty-five to seventy-two and scattered across the country from New Hampshire to California, these mothers reflect the full spectrum of lifestyle choices. Women who have been home with the kids from day one, moms who shuttle from full-time office jobs to part-time at-home work, hard-driving executives who put in seventy-hour-plus weeks: they all get a turn. The one thing these women have in common, aside from having kids, is that they’re all terrific writers.