From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org Women’s advocates in Washington found their jaws hitting the floor last week when a Congressional oversight committee convened a panel of experts to discuss freedom of religion and women’s reproductive health care. The panel consisted only of men. Taking turns testifying were a Roman Catholic bishop, a Lutheran minister, a rabbi, a philosophy professor and an ethics professor. To a man , they objected to the federal government’s decision that all women insured through an employer’s...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org My sister Americans: The state of our union is strong. Electing women to fully 51% of public offices has ushered in a new era in our great experiment in democracy. Legislators now put the common good ahead of their personal power and individual gain. We, men and women together, make better policy decisions and make them faster than in any prior administration. As a result, the cost of government has decreased dramatically and we have more funds available to put to good use in making...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org Why ease in to 2012 when we can take a flying leap directly into the epicenter of the maternal conflict? Sister blogger ButIDoHaveALawDegree graciously permits me to run her latest post here, in full, and I’m certain it will strike a major chord with you. I’ve not read a better expression of the maternal angst resulting from the false choice foisted upon us to either raise our children or provide for them financially. As parents, as people, as mothers, we can do both, and should we...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org Kelly Coyle DiNorcia is the author of this post. Her bio is here with another piece she wrote several weeks ago. In the car the other day, I was listening to NPR. Brian Lehrer was interviewing Robert Guest, the global business editor of The Economist and author of the new book, Borderless Economics: Chinese Sea Turtles, Indian Fridges and the New Fruits of Global Capitalism . Here is a quote from Mr. Guest that has been sticking in my mind, and I’m hoping that the smart and savvy...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org Working Mother magazine asked 3,781 mothers how they wanted to run their lives and what they needed in order to do that. I’ve looked at the results closely and come to two main conclusions. First, every mother will think other mothers are happier or are having an easier time. Second, they will all be wrong, for it’s the rare mother who manages to avoid periodic stress, guilt, and dissatisfaction. It doesn’t matter if you stay at home, work from home, or work outside the home – whatever...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org Last week’s policy briefings included one on the state of early education and child care programs in the U.S. The number of spots available across the country is nowhere near the number of children that need to be looked after while their parents are at work. For many families, if care can be located, it is hugely expensive. As a result, a vast number of children are left with unregulated or uncertified caregivers, making little more than minimum wage, with no access to paid sick leave...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org Women are certainly taking it on the chin as funding cuts fall thick and fast. Topeka, Kansas has decided the city can no longer afford to prosecute perpetrators of domestic violence. Legislators are proposing reductions in funding for home visits to new mothers and their infant children. The President’s jobs bill, which would put hundreds of thousands of laid-off teachers back to work, is stalled in the US Senate. The so-called “Super Committee” (do they get to wear capes or something...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org The weather changed literally overnight. Yesterday it was shorts and sunglasses. Today it’s socks and sweaters, and some serious statistics about what mothers are facing as they try to raise their kids and take care of their families. The latest poverty numbers from the US Census Bureau show what an uneven playing field we have in the US. A US woman is 29% more likely to find herself living in poverty than a US man. The poverty rate for single mother families has jumped to over 42%. Of...

From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog MOTHERS changing the conversation @ www.MothersOughtToHaveEqualRights.org Do you understand how come it got so bad for so many households these days? I've been looking at " The American Middle Class Under Stress " report by Sherle R. Schewenninger and Samuel Sherraden of the New America Foundation. It probably won't make you feel any better, or suddenly fill up your bank account, but sometimes understanding a situation can make it a bit more bearable. Here's the skinny in just three short paragraphs! Right now, even though the recession is technically over,...