07.18.10
The War on Moms
The War on Moms by Sharon Lerner
Woman’s Right or Employer’s Choice?
I thought the war was over. For many years I have heard about progress in the women’s movement. Women demonstrated because of discrimination in hiring, because of lower wages paid women for the same tasks performed by men. I thought these battles had been won. “The War on Moms” suggests otherwise.
According to Lerner there are still a huge number of women who bear most of the burden for children and family. Women may now be paid nearly as well as men, but mostly because men are being paid less. Furthermore the attitude toward women in the workplace has become more of a problem. Women needing sick days, time off to take a child to the doctor, or time off to address a child’s problems at school, face altitudinal barriers that threaten their career and livelihood. In some cases, if a woman becomes pregnant, that fact alone may harm her career. Some employers assume that with her “right” to abortion, the woman must “fix” the problem or lose her job.
Sharon Lerner presents a mound of data to support her concern for moms. Lerner interviewed many women from various parts of America and an impressive cross section of occupations, races, and socio-economic groups. Leaner also gathered employment statistics from credible sources such as: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Rutgers Center for American Women in Politics; Bureau of Labor Statistics; National Vital Statistics Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; U.S. Department of Labor; and even the CIA.
Sharon Lerner bemoans the reality that the USA does not support maternity leave for women in the workplace. In 1919, at an international conference on labor, thirty three countries recognized protected leave for childbirth, but the United States abstained. Today 120 developed countries have adopted maternity leave policies, but the USA has yet to act. Typically, in the USA, women must leave their jobs to have time for childbirth, and those that do not must take only a few “sick days” and quickly return to work. Sharon Lerner considers this lack of support barbaric.
I recommend “The War on Moms”. It is an interesting policy paper on an important topic. I believe the issues presented in this thesis and the portrait drawn of our society is worth pondering.