Programs

In support of our mission, to improve the lives of mothers through advocacy, Mothers & More provides a comprehensive set of programs to heighten awareness about contemporary issues that affect the lives of mothers.

The POWER Programs (POWER stands for "Exploring Patterns Of Women's Experience and Employment with Respect and Recognition for Mothers") offer Mothers & More members an opportunity to share in a selection of open and structured online discussions, targeted resources and in-chapter programs, including:

POWER Loop: An online forum for sharing discussion, news articles and recent studies related to motherhood and society. POWER Loop members may participate in a stimulating ongoing dialog as well as structured discussions on special topics, which often include appearances by guest authors. Past POWER Loop guests include Joan Williams (author of Unbending Gender), Susan Maushart (author of The Mask of Motherhood), Ann Crittenden (The Price of Motherhood), Faulkner Fox (author of Dispatches from a Not-So-Perfect Life: or How I Learned to Love the House, the Man, the Child) and Andrea Buchanan (author of Mother Shock: Loving Every (Other) Minute of It). POWER Loop enrollment is open to all Mothers & More members.
Click here for a page with highlights from the loop.

POWER Packets: A series of individual programs designed to raise awareness through structured chapter activities. Each meeting-length program, which includes a facilitation guide for leaders, is designed to encourage discussion and feedback on topics related to the personal, social, political, economic and cultural experience of motherhood.

Annual Mothers Day Campaign: Every year, our organization spends the month leading up to Mothers Day celebrating motherhood with chapter and individual activities coordinated around a focus issue. Each year a new focus is chosen to raise public awareness about mothers and motherhood. In 2003, the theme was "Making Mothers Count", and the focus was on the invisibility of mothers and their work, the notion that caregiving is work - that all mothers work whether they are paid in the market economy or not. In 2004, the theme was "Mothers - The Real Story", and the focus was on the fact that stereotypes of motherhood and the reality we experience do not match. The campaign encouraged mothers to talk honestly to each other about both the ups and downs of motherhood, and to be more aware of the role the media plays in promulgating these stereotypes and in contributing to idealized versions of motherhood that are impossible to achieve. In 2005, the theme was "Mothers - The Real Story: It's About Time", and the focus was on time. The time all mothers spend taking care of their families, the unpredictability of that time, the invisibility of it, the way it pushes up against other things that require time, the way it changes our lives after we become mothers, the way it causes guilt about how we should be spending time, and the way it causes resentment about how we want to be spending our time.

Apple Pie in the Face Award: This award is given to people or organzitions that try to divide mothers or that trivialize our struggles to combine caring for our families with paid work over our lifetimes.
Click here for a page listing past awards.

The activities and information we offer Mothers & More members through our POWER Programs are designed to raise awareness of our organizational values - both within and outside Mothers & More.

• A mother is more than any single role she plays at any given point in her lifetime. She is entitled to explore fully and develop her identity as she chooses: as a woman, a citizen, a parent or an employee.
• All the work mothers do - whether paid or unpaid - has social and economic value.
• All women deserve recognition and support for their right to choose if and how to combine parenting and paid employment.
• All mothers, all children and all families are unique. We respect the wisdom of each mother to decide how to care for her children, her family and herself.
• Mothers have the right to fulfill their caregiving responsibilities without incurring social and economic penalties.
• The transitions women make into and through motherhood are challenging and can be difficult.
• Together, mothers are powerful.

We also strive to raise awareness that:

• Mothers live and work in a society that presents significant barriers to their ability to succeed as women, citizens, parents or participants in the workforce.
• There are widespread policies, practices and attitudes in our society that leave mothers more vulnerable to hardship than other citizens.
• Motherhood is, in and of itself, a valuable human experience that can enhance the quality of life, enrich the spirit, expand personal potential and lead to greater self-actualization in the lives of individual women.

To take advantage of these programs, join now.