2005 Mothers Day Campaign:
Mothers - The Real Story: It's
About Time
Overview
Goals of the Campaign
- To encourage mothers to talk with each other about their real
life experience as mothers.
- To spotlight that all mothers do unpaid work caring for their
families that takes time to perform and has real social and economic
value.
- To identify the barriers mothers share to fitting the time
required for care in with everything else and the unique ways different
mothers approach this challenge.
Theme
Our real stories are about 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.
The stories about the barriers and penalties mothers face are about
time. Taking care of families is real work that takes real time,
whether it is the visible work of changing diapers and helping with homework
or the invisible work of mentally tracking doctor’s
appointments and the need for new shoes. Yet that work is not valued as
real work. Society makes it tough to get it done and marginalizes those
who do it - and mothers have been culturally assigned the
responsibility to do the work.
And for mothers, It’s about time that we come together to tell our
stories loud and clear. That we insist on more options for individuals
to fit the time to care into their lives, insist that the
responsibility to spend time caring for families be treated as a
responsibility we all share individually and together, and insist that
time spent caring for families is never a reason for someone to face
financial insecurity, barriers to employment or the expectation that
personal dreams and potential must be sidelined.
Dates
The 2005 Mother’s Day Campaign: Mothers - The Real Story will run from April 18 to May 30, 2005
Campaign Activities
Blog - A team of
mothers from our organization will be blogging about the real story of time and motherhood.
Campaign T-shirts and Bag Tags - T-shirts and Bag Tags are available for purchase, sporting the phrase Mothers. The Real Story. For all of us, It's about time. Order by March 23 to guarantee delivery in time for the start of the campaign on April 18!
Mother’s Day Cards - Free downloadable cards you can give to moms you know for Mother’s Day, and recruit new members too! The card design provides a fun, humorous way to say Happy Mother’s Day to someone you know and let them know about the campaign.
Chapter Events Coast to Coast - Chapters across the country will hold special campaign chapter meetings, movie nights and other activities of their choosing to support the campaign. Visit the Campaign Events page to see a list of events and their locations. For ideas and materials to host your own event, visit the Tools for You page.
Chapter and Event Tools - Chapters will receive an electronic toolkit that includes a complete guide to holding a campaign chapter meeting and complete press kit materials. Visit the Tools for You page to download these materials.
Special Guests on the POWER Loop - If you aren’t already a member of the POWER Loop, now is the time to join! We have a star-studded line-up of guest authors on the loop during the campaign: Phyllis Moen (It’s About Time: Couples and Careers, Women’s Two Roles), Anna Fels (Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Women’s Changing Lives), and Judith Warner (Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety). And, at press time, another new book, The Truth
Behind the Mommy Wars: Who Decides What Makes a Good Mother? by Miriam Peskowitz, was just about to hit bookstores and it is possible the author will be joining us on the POWER Loop as well. This year the
loop will feature a "The Day After Mother’s Day" on line diary event. POWER loopers will be encouraged to "clock in" with their time at set times during the day. The three editors ( Joni B. Cole, Rebecca
Joffrey, and B.K. Rakhra ) of This Day in the Life will be joining the loop for our "day." Come add your voice to the loop. The POWER Loop is only available to Mothers & More members. If you're not already a member, join now to participate! Then email nationaloffice@mothersandmore.org to get your username and password. If you’re a member but not on the POWER loop yet, sign up by visiting the Members Only site.
Letters to the Editor - Across the country chapters and individual members will send letters to the editor of their local newspapers and emails to friends and family based on templates provided by Mothers & More. Visit the Tools for You page.
Donate - Help us continue to support mothers and tell the Real Story. Make your donation today!
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