National Organization Bangs the Drum for a Mothers’ Movement

Mothers & More celebrates 15 years of supporting and advocating on behalf of mothers

September 19, 2002 — Can you hear it? The steady, reliable thump of a mother’s heartbeat next to a sleeping babe’s ear is rising to an urgent drumbeat heard across the country, calling for action on behalf of mothers. 

Listen—in California, a landmark bill that would give new mothers six weeks of partially paid maternity leave. In Montana, state funded assistance to low income at-home mothers. 

Mothers & More, a national grassroots organization celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, is leading the band. The group has been on the forefront of a “mothers’ movement” since the ’80s, advocating for business and government policies that recognize and support the critical social and economic work all mothers perform as the primary caregivers of the next generation of workers and leaders. Finally, others are picking up on the beat.

A report recently issued by the Program on Gender, Work & Family at American University documents cases in which employers have actively discriminated against women with children. The report cites legal suits against workplaces that have allegedly:

• Developed hiring profiles to exclude married women with children
• Established policies that deny promotions to mothers with young children
• Fired women for becoming pregnant.

Though the wage gap has narrowed between men and women, the gap between mothers and others has increasingly widened: a childless 30-year-old woman earns 90% of what a man makes, while her counterpart with children earns just 70%, notes a passage in The Price of Motherhood, written by economic journalist Ann Crittenden.

And for mothers who leave the workforce to raise their children, the situation is especially grim: the government considers stay-at-home mothers “unemployed” — and therefore ineligible to accumulate Social Security credits, putting them in the highest risk group for poverty as senior citizens.

“The reality today is that mothers are the ones who perform the bulk of the unpaid caregiving work in our society and often sacrifice their own economic security to do so, regardless of whether they participate in the paid workplace, or the level of that participation,” says Kristin Maschka, President of Mothers & More. “That caregiving work has both immeasurable value to children and very concrete economic and social value to society. We’re formulating a policy agenda that will ensure that mothers not be penalized by society for performing this vital work.”

Mothers & More Founder and Executive Director Joanne Brundage notes, “Our members include mothers who are at home full-time, mothers who work for pay full-time, and everything in between. For 15 years, we’ve been uniting mothers from all walks of life to support them through the rewards and challenges of motherhood. Now we will demonstrate the power of mothers as Mothers & More acts on the pressing societal issues that will improve the lives of all mothers.”

Mothers & More is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of mothers through support, education and advocacy. It addresses mothers’ needs as individuals and members of society, and promotes the value of all the work mothers do. The organization boasts over 7000 members and 175 chapters, coast to coast. For more information, log onto www.mothersandmore.org.

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