Mother’s Day Campaign 2007:
Making connections. Making a difference.

20 Years of Making a Difference

The 2007 Mother’s Day Campaign may have been the 4th year of Mother’s Day campaigns by Mothers & More, but it marked 20 years of making a difference by helping mothers make connections:

• with other mothers in their neighborhoods and across the nation–taking time for themselves, making friends, sharing their real stories, supporting one another, learning, growing, having fun!
• between who they are as a mother and other-than-mother; that every mother is a mother…and more.
• between the realities of their daily lives and the cultural attitudes, business practices and public policies that shape those realities over the course of their lives as mothers.
• that the caregiving work they do–that all mothers do–is real work with real social and economic value.

Mothers were encouraged to take Mothers & More’s online survey to share when, where and how they made a connection; an “Aha! I get it!” moment:

• that the work they do caring for family truly IS real work with real social and economic value
• about how mothers have been treated differently/dismissively/unfairly simply by virtue of being a mother
• how/where they connect with other mothers and what that connection has meant to them
• the importance of taking care of themselves and nurturing all the other parts of who they are, other than mother

Survey Results

Comparison of attitudes survey-takers had before and after having children:

POWER Loop

The POWER Loop, an online discussion forum, gave members an opportunity to talk with guests from other organizations and hear how the connections they’ve made/are making/hope to make with Mothers & More, plays a part in their work to improve the lives of mothers.
Guests included:

• Ann Crittenden - author of The Price of Motherhood
• Alexia Jackson - artist and creator of a DVD entitled All Day
• Linda Juergins - Executive Director of the National Association of Mother's Centers
• Andrea O'Reilly, P.hD. - founder of the Association for Research on Mothering at York University
• Elena Taurke Joseph, PhD - creator of a DVD on modern motherhood, titled Martyred Mom Cracks Her Shackles!
• Judith Stadtman Tucker - activist and founder of the Mother's Movement Online

Mother’s Day Campaign Blog

The 2007 Mother’s Day Campaign blog featured members at various points in their membership as well as in their journey as mothers and more. The bloggers helped us learn about their connections with other mothers and their lives as mothers given all the other things they were as women. They explored how their experiences with others' assumptions about them, based solely on their motherhood, and the difference they had made or hoped to make for themselves and other mothers by making connections.

Our bloggers were:

• Anne - a member of the Cincinnati Chapter, Anne’s daughter was almost 5. She feels fate was responsible for her discovery of Mothers & More when her daughter was 2 years old. At that time she struggled in her new role: being a mother without her own mother, the lack of a real support system (even while a member of another mother’s group), and the lack of an identity since she was no longer in the paid workforce. She continued to struggle with some issues but she knew she was not alone. The connections she had made, within her chapter and on Mothers & More loops, made a real difference in her life.
• Freda - found Mothers & More and joined a chapter while about six months pregnant with her first child, anticipating the adjustment of leaving work as a clinical social worker to be at home full time. That child was then six years old, and during those six years, Freda drifted away from Mothers & More... After the birth of her second child, she found her way back to a chapter, where this time, she made vital, lasting connections with other moms and reconnected with the inner-advocate that had led her into clinical social work. She anticipated a return to the paid workforce, and continued involvement in Mothers & More.
• Joanne Brundage - Upon the birth of her second child in 1987, Joanne left her job to stay home full-time to raise her children. She soon felt the stress associated with the transition, so she put an ad in her local newspaper and connected with other women feeling the same way - the birth of Mothers & More (then FEMALE)! As a woman who transitioned back into the workforce many years ago, a mother to two young adults and a teenager, and a first-time grandmother, she reflected on the changes and lack of change from when she first felt a need to reach out to other mothers.
• Laura - A mother and self-employed writer, Laura is a member of the Orlando chapter. When she first became a mother, she yearned for a group that embraced mothers from all work/home/parenting styles, one that did not seem to push "mother martyrdom." Mothers & More has meant friendship, leadership, learning about and becoming involved in the mothers’ movement. She saw her participation in the group as an extension of herself, as her own voice, but louder and larger.
• onedrivenmama - Funny name, serious blogger! She is a long-time member of Mothers & More who participated in the 2006 Mother’s Day campaign blog as well. Mother of two children, then a near tween and Kindergartener, she made many connections between her foremothers' experiences and her own, and works tirelessly to ensure her children will have better choices to be both productive workers and caring human beings because society has (finally) the "right connections."