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What Mothers Want Conference

September 26, 2010
Valerie Young's picture
Valerie Young
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by Valerie Young and Jocelyn Crowley

We see it all around us: mothers are harried, overworked, and encounter endless obstacles as they work and raise their kids. Workplace flexibility initiatives can help, whether initiated by the mother’s employer or promoted by the government. Yet these options remain unavailable to a significant number of mothers. So what can we do about it?

We started out in separate corners on this issue.  Jocelyn Crowley, as the academic, began work in 2008 on a large study to understand certain types of mothers' groups in the United States.  These are groups that tend to attract mothers into their fold based on whether or not they are currently working for pay.  Through a series of surveys and interviews, she asked mothers across five national organizations about their lives, their struggle to combine paid work with family, and how they envision a society which values them as parents as much as it rewards them as workers.
In the course of her research, Jocelyn had the energizing opportunity of studying the membership of the National Association of Mothers' Centers (NAMC), and met its Advocacy Coordinator, Valerie Young.  We found in each other the perfect collaborative partner.  While Jocelyn loves putting her nose to the research grind, Valerie is on the ground in Washington D.C. influencing public policy discussions and agitating for change.  Hence, the idea for this conference was born.  We became determined to bring both academics and practitioners together to talk about what mothers want in terms of workplace flexibility policies.  It is our belief that the exchange of ideas between these experts and the mothers already cooperating in their own communities offers a potent opportunity to create social change.

The “What Mothers Want” conference will take place at Rutgers University on October 19, 2010.  It will showcase the findings of key players who have studied the intersection of paid work and unpaid family carework.  We’ve seen the work of the panel, and here’s a glimpse of the issues we’ll address: 

  • Can a balance ever really be struck between work and the pull of family life?
  • Which women feel they have balance, and how do they get it? 
  • What do fathers and male co-workers have to do with work/life satisfaction?
  • Do gender and race matter? 
  • When mothers talk about their common experience, how does their perspective on work/life issues shift?
  • If they’ve left paid employment do they plan to return, and under what circumstances?
  • What is the connection between mothers in organized mothers’ groups and political activism?

In short, what DO mothers want?  We look forward to three hours of fascinating information, conversation, and fun, and we hope you can join us.

"What Mothers Want": A Conference at Rutgers University, October 19, 2010 from 9am-12:45pm.  REGISTER NOW!

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