The maternal is the political
In a new book, one of the founders of MoveOn.org argues that the next Web-based grass-roots political movement should be led by mothers.
By Nina Burleigh
Read more: Democratic Party, Politics, Life
May 23, 2006 | Whatever we think of the perennial quest, undertaken most recently by Caitlin Flanagan and Judith Warner, to unpack the political, social, sexual and economic ramifications of American motherhood, we can agree on one thing: All the verbiage has not yet produced a more family-friendly nation. Now comes Joan Blades, co-founder of MoveOn.org, with an idea she says whose time has come: a Web-based, grass-roots attempt to weld mothers into a coherent political force. Earlier this month, Blades launched a multimedia campaign to spark this mother's movement. The centerpiece of the effort is the Web site, MomsRising.org, which signed up 40,000 members during its first week online, after it was advertised in an e-mail blast to the 3 million members of MoveOn.org.
In conjunction with the new Web site, Blades co-wrote and released a new book, "The Motherhood Manifesto: What America's Moms Want and What to Do About It." The book, with a Rosie the Riveter-style, kerchief-clad woman on the cover elbow-curling an infant, is an even-tempered examination of six problems Blades and her coauthor, environmental policy consultant Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, believe American mothers need to see addressed -- whether they're home or working, Republican or Democrat. Each chapter also includes harrowing anecdotes from stretched and strained working mothers, and sometimes, fathers, struggling to be parents in the United States today.
Blades and Rowe-Finkbeiner intend their book and Web site to be nonpartisan, which explains the underlying restraint with which they deliver their arguments. In the nation of motherhood, they say, there are no red states or blue states, just one big, shared landscape in which mothers want roughly the same things. As laid out in their "manifesto," those things correspond with the mnemonic acronym "MOTHER": maternity and paternity leave, open and flexible work, TV we choose and other after-school programs, healthcare for all kids, excellent child care, and realistic and fair wages. To some cynics, "The Motherhood Manifesto" might sound an awful lot like the policies progressives have been fighting for with little or no success for years.
Blades, 50, and Rowe-Finkbeiner, 37, each have two children, and both work from home, Blades from Berkeley, Calif., and Rowe-Finkbeiner from Washington state. Salon spoke to them recently by phone about the pay bias against mothers, why quality television programming is a political issue, and how mothers can swing the next election.
What was the genesis of this project?
Blades: A couple of years ago I wrote a two-page document that I called "The Motherhood Manifesto," which was very similar to what's in the book. I shared it with Arianna Huffington and she invited me to talk about it at a gathering of political types she held in her home after the 2004 election. So I did, and a number of powerful people told me they thought it was a great idea. That was the inspiration for doing the book. The issues have been out there, but the general public is not mobilized around them.
"The Motherhood Manifesto" is also the name of a documentary we produced. The women we feature in the book are in the film and we will be previewing it in June at the Take Back America conference. After that, we will do organizing around it. We want to create massive grass-roots support for issues that affect mothers. Once people realize that it's not just their personal problem but that these are issues we all share, I think there will be a huge opportunity to back good leadership and good policy.
Dedicated people have been out there promoting these very issues in legislatures across the country and in Washington for decades without success. How is your effort different?
Blades: As a founder of MoveOn.org, I have seen the power of grass-roots mobilization. It's unleashing the so-called wisdom of crowds. Give people a connection and a way to engage and they will, in deep and intelligent ways.
Rowe-Finkbeiner: We are developing a blogging roster on MomsRising.org for people who will be able to come in and talk about what is important to them, whether it's child care, healthcare or other issues. Also going up is a networking function, an online forum so moms can talk to moms and organizations can talk to organizations about who is doing what where.
We are trying to offer avenues for engagement -- everything from reading a story about other mothers' dilemmas and solutions to calling your legislator. Ultimately we'd love to have a "how to start your own group" piece. Certainly we'll do house parties around the film. We are also encouraging book groups. There are also talking points if you want to get together as a play group or for afternoon tea. Basically we are saying here are some things to discuss, and some background. It's community building in person as well as online.
Blades: We are going to learn a lot from our members about what they want to work on. We are going to give them opportunities to engage. And they will give us great ideas. That's where we will go deeply and explore more. I believe good online work is a two-way dialogue. The Web site went up this week and it is rapidly growing. We have had an amazing response, with close to 40,000 members signing on in five days. We have both a petition and a sign-up. The petition urges policymakers to be more genuinely family-friendly by supporting legislation to close the wage gap between mothers and men. It reads: "It's time for our leaders to do more than talk about valuing families. Join us as we let American leaders know we support common sense family-friendly policies that protect and invest in mothers, children, and families today."
Can we realistically hope to mandate things like more maternity/paternity leave and open and flexible work in today's political and economic climate? Are there any companies that are models for this? You mention Google in the book, but are there others?
Rowe-Finkbeiner: One model is Johnson Moving and Storage in Denver. They have done an amazing job with open and flexible work in a sector not known for flexible work. They are able to attract and retain really high-qualified employees by offering them flexible schedules. JetBlue is another company with flexible options. They make people's homes satellite offices. All the reservation agents work from home, many part-time. Most of these folks are in Utah and a whole lot of them are moms.
Next page: Why do wages drop for women when they have children?
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