What’s It All For?

by Cat Sullivan

I have worked for pay for over 35 years and I have also been a mother for all that time. But I did not work fancy-dancy jobs where I got to wear nice clothes. I worked what I call McJobs, low-wage employment--and we women in these jobs endure bad treatment, dangerous and unhealthy conditions, sexual and on-the-job harassment. Most of the jobs I worked were union jobs, some non-traditional work, and not only for me but for other women, we were overlooked by unions as well (who, while golfing and boating with the manager, gave away our rights, pay, and even our jobs for their own gain at times). I am saying this as the descendent of a WOBBLY [Industrial Workers of the World], and I am only saying we need WORKERS rights, not just union rights.

I am going to tell you all something I learned from all those years on the job: Working for a wage was not worth my time, talent, and effort just to make some rich man richer. We lived in perpetual poverty, and my children suffered because of all the time I spent away from them. And the jobs?
They are nowhere to be seen in my life, but my children are still here. Far better to actually BE a mother and demand that mothering is supported by tax breaks, and if she is a single mother, the support to be able to stay at home if she thinks this is best for her children. Because when your company no longer needs you because you are too old, not able to give your all, the boss does not like the color of your eyes, or the demands of being both a mother and a worker is too much for you, your paid work will dump you like dirty laundry and leave you with nothing. You are rearing the next generation for America, and this job is far more important.
Being mothers is not like being economists, who foolishly only look to the next quarter for the future of their company. We do work that is guaranteeing the future of this country!
I am an advocate for a non-profit that works for the rights of TANF [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] mothers, because of the very things I learned from all those wasted years. It is a shame and a sham to say mothering is "doing nothing," codified in 1996 with The Personal Responsibility Act (Welfare Reform) by legislators and think-tank MEN who are anything but personally responsible themselves.
It is disgusting to think a minimum wage job is more important than children, because that is what this bill says. If you think it only applies to the poor, well then you might re-think your American values and that all American laws apply to everyone, not just the poor. Because Welfare Reform says you as a mother "do nothing" in the home, you are only contributing if you are working for a wage.
I do support the rights of women in the workplace, but I also say working for a wage is not the only work that should count for women (and men) and parenting should count as much, if not more. If you feel the same, go to Welfare Rights Organizing Coalition (WROC) because they work both legislatively as well as in developing policy to support low-income mothers who work outside the home as well as inside the home. Here is the website: http://www.wroc.org.