They took it too far this time.  Did you hear what the all male panel (yes, an ALL male panel!) on Fox News said about working moms?!

"Society dissolv[ing] around us," said Lou Dobbs. A sign of "something going terribly wrong in American society," said Juan Williams.  Erick Erickson chimed in and said having moms as breadwinners was against "biology" and said people who defend moms are "anti-science."

We wish this was a joke.

Fox News couldn't even bother to put an actual MOM on this panel to talk about working moms? We had to double check our calendars and turns out, it is in fact 2013 not 1963.

Statements and panels of "pundits" like these can't be ignored. Because while it'd be easy to just shake our heads and move on, we know that sexist statements in the media are part of why women, and particularly moms, still don't get equal pay for equal work in 2013.

The time is now to stand up and call out Fox News publicly together.

*Take 30 seconds now to use our easy Twitter tool to call out Fox News: 

http://momsvoice.momsrising.org/main

Not on Twitter? No problem! Just click here and we'll email a message from you directly to Fox News: action.momsrising.org/sign/FoxNewsEmail

When you click either of the above links you'll be able to share this message:

Hey @FoxNews #ProTip when talking about working #moms maybe have some...moms on the panel? Diversify your panels! Pls RT

Discrimination against women and mothers too often goes unquestioned.  This has rippling consequences.  Right now, in 2013, women overall still only make 77 cents to a man's dollar for full-time, year round work, with mothers and women of color experiencing the biggest wage hits. In fact, one study found that with equal resumes and job experiences moms were offered jobs 80% less of the time than non-moms, and were offered $11,000 lower starting salaries for highly paid positions. Dads, on the other hand were offered $6,000 higher starting salaries than non-dads.

It's long past time for the wage and hiring discrimination that moms experience to end. Women are now half of the entire paid labor force for the first time in history, and three-quarters of mom are in the labor force.  The Pew research study data, which sparked the Fox News conversation, that found forty percent of breadwinners in America are women, should come as no surprise.

Part of ending wage and hiring discrimination against moms is "calling out" media outlets who perpetuate sexist, false ideas.  (Another part of ending this type of discrimination is moving forward family economic security policies like access to affordable childcare, family leave after a new baby arrives, healthcare, and other polices that allow both businesses and families to thrive).

Now is the time to make our voices heard.  It's NOT okay for the media to perpetuate sexist ideas about women--and that this type of sexism not only hurts our ears, but also hurts our pocketbooks and our national economy.  Why doe it hurt the national economy?  Because when women, who make over 80% of purchasing decisions, don't have adequate funds to spend in our nation that for better or worse is built on consumer spending, then it hurts us all. [7]

*Take a moment now to tell Fox News to stop bashing moms via Twitter:

http://momsvoice.momsrising.org/main

Not on Twitter? No problem! Just click here and we'll email a message from you directly to Fox News: action.momsrising.org/sign/FoxNewsEmail

When you click either of the above links, you'll be able to share this message: Hey @FoxNews #ProTip when talking about working #moms maybe have some...moms on the panel? Diversify your panels! Pls RT

And please also take a moment to forward this email to all the moms in your life.  The more of us who make our voices heard in this relatively public way on Facebook and Twitter, the bigger the impact.

Together we are a powerful voice for women and families.

***

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