An Open Letter to Sarah Palin from Working Moms
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GoogleDear Sarah,
I hope you don't mind me calling you Sarah. I feel like we know each other so well, what with all the media coverage you've been getting in the last couple of weeks.
I know you're really proud of the working motherhood arrangement you've crafted for yourself. But since the GOP has been holding you up as the shining beacon of model motherhood, I have a few questions for you. I think a few of the other moms I know do, as well. So I hope you don't mind me asking! We could have a quick chat over a cup of coffee, or you could just E-mail me back -- I know you're killer on the Blackberry!
Katha Pollitt at The Nation already has posed some questions to you. And I really do want to know the answers to them. But here are a few others I'm curious about, as well:
1. If you're elected vice president, what are you going to do to help all the other working mothers in America? You know, not all of us have the kind of support system of family and friends you do to take care of our kids, but we still have to work so we can afford food for the table, gas for our cars and the after-school day care arrangements because most of us don't have nannies (we now know you did, at least according to your own words on this video).
2. If after several years of being vice president you discovered that you had been paid less than all the other vice presidents before you, would you be OK with not being able do anything about it? If you're not sure, I know Lily Ledbetter would be happy to talk with you about that.
3. You say you're going to be an advocate for special needs children, now that you have one of your own. What does that mean, exactly? Will you use the power of being second-in-command for fight for health care coverage that these children need, but many of their families can't afford? Will you make sure that parents get all the information about special needs children and that the federal government will step up to the plate with some dollars to help achieve that? Will you be honest about your son's challenges if he grows up in the spotlight of national politics?
4. When will you be able to tell us where you stand on issues so important to the millions of working mothers in this country? Recently, one story said that you are "unable to say at this time what [your] position is on federal policies relating to job protections and benefits for working mothers." It sure would be nice if you'd let us know sometime in the next 49 days. Sooner rather than later would be great.
5. I know you're a little busy at the moment, but since you're asking so many of us to vote for you, we'd like to hear a little more about these issues and less about that Bridge to Nowhere, though I would like you to be a bit more honest about what you did with the money you didn't spend on that bridge.
6. Oh, one other thing -- I know you say you're against "earmarks" for special pet projects, but that doesn't seem to square with the reports that you asked for over $450 million of them in the last two years. Maybe you could just be straight with us about that one, too.
Feel free to call, E-mail or drop by. I'll put the kettle on and Piper can hang out and play with PunditGirl. I know you think some of these questions are irrelevant, but I think it's fair to ask how your motherhood experiences will impact your potential advice an a McCain administration's policies on FMLA, child-care and fair pay.
I'm not Charlie Gibson, but I know we could have a really lively chat.
Sincerely yours,
I hope I can teach my
I hope I can teach my beloved five-year- old daughter that "life doesn't just happen to you". Our behaviours and choices govern how our lives turn out and ultimately, our children's welfare. We have to teach our daughters to make good decisions because the reality is that the stakes are higher if you are a girl. A women has to be prepared to take care of herself and anyone else that comes along (ie, babies). Why don't feminists focus on teaching girls that the most important decision you ever make is who to make babies with and you better choose well? I made a lot of sacrifices to finish my education before marriage and to attain financial stability and a happy marriage before I produced children. My husband and I made major sacrifices so I could be home with my kids when they were small. I continue to invest in my relationship so that I stay married and I chose wisely in the first place. I didn't make babies until I was married. My happy outcome didn't "just happen". Good behaviour and wise choices gave me a much higher probability for a happy life. Why don't we tell women the truth? You create your own destiny. No government program will insure your children a good education or adequate healthcare. Who is going to pay for all of these social programs? I'm tired of paying for other people's bad choices. I'm a recovering feminist and I have hope that the day will come when real women stand up and speak the truth. Our kids need us to get it together, ladies, and keep it together! If you receive your basic needs from the government, you will always be dependent on the public largesse. If you depend on yourself, no one can ever take it away from you...............or your kids. I care enough to tell young women the truth and I thank God that I had a mother that told me even though she had a baby at seventeen she wanted a whole lot more for me. Thanks, Mom, for telling me the truth. I know it seems like I wasn't listening during all of those "talks", but, I'm pushing forty now and I think I finally got it.
Your Vote
“It is not about what our country can do for us but what we can do for our country” JFK
Do American’s really want to be Socialists?
If yes, do they understand the next step is Communism?
If you went to college, in the first year you learned that Socialism is the first step towards Communism.
Now I ask you, do American’s want to be Communists?
Think About It America!
This election is not about women’s rights or anything else!
It is about FREEDOM!
Equal Pay
I am sick to death of accommodating working mothers. I cannot count the times work has been dumped on my desk because some mother has to flee the office because the school or the day care provider calls with an emergency. In some instances my works suffers because theirs took priority. Several years ago I was forced to do a woman’s work whose job I was told I was not qualified to do and were turned down for the position. This woman would leave on average of once a week. If I wasn’t qualified then why was I always given her work to do whenever she needed to leave for a child issue? Forget about it. I finally had a talk with my manager and told him if he continued to do this to me I’d take the issue to our HR department. If you can’t make it to work and stay at work, then stay at home with the kid(s) or have the school or day care provided call the father. Or here is an idea; don’t breed!
These days’ companies have to provide segregated areas for nursing women who have returned to work so they can pump their breasts. The state mandates time limits and guidelines but they are usually abused and not enforced because no one wants to look like an ogre. Here again others are doing the work of the new mother.
As for bringing the kid to work, please don’t. That does not work in a fast paces office. One day a co-work brought in her year old for the last three hours of the day because the sitter’s child had an emergency she had to attend to. The kid screamed most of the three hours. I was on the phone and the customer said to me: “How nice you can work from home”, I told her I was in the office and she pardoned herself saying she “assumed” I was working from home because she could hear a child crying in the background. Not to mention the mother didn’t get much work done as she spent most of her time tending to the kid.
Why should mothers be held to a different work standard than women who are not mothers or men? The fact that they are paid less than non-mother is because they not as accountable or dependable. Single and young mothers make less because they usually are not as educated or skilled as they non-mother counter parts. Sounds fair to me.
I am a single mother. I have
I am a single mother. I have a degree and numerous certificates.
This year is the first year in 10 that I have had a vacation. I used exactely zero personal days this year, I am so reliable and accountable that I am openly the company "go-to" person. My daughter is a high school honor student, band drum major and reporter for our local paper.
I am paid far less than the men and "non-mothers" in my company. I have less benefits and more work.
The "non-mother" who blogged about the unfair circumstances in her work place, may want to look deeper for the true reason she is treated that way.
I feel sorry for people who may not be mothers and either never had one themselves or have forgotten what having one meant to them. Not because I think everyone should be a parent, but because I would hope everyone would understand that without mothers, our species would not exist. Without working mothers, our species would not exist.
no concept
If you did not realize you have it made compared to woman you need to get a grip
Accommodating working mothers
I am sick that a person could be as rude as you are regarding working mothers. Just remember your mother braught you into this world and she probably worked and had to leave work because of you.
Not all working mothers abuse the system like you are saying. I am a mother of two currently a third on the way, I have worked at my place of employment for 7 years. I have had to leave work 5 times in the last 7 years because of my children and 4 of them were because my son was on his way to the hospital because he couldn't breathe from his health issues.
As for your comment about "Single and young mothers make less because they usually are not as educated or skilled as they non-mother counter parts." I would like to inform you that there are a lot of young and/or single mothers that are very educated. I am 28 years old, I have a 8 year old and a 5 year old and another one due in March 2009. I have a bachelors degree in accounting and a bachelors degree in business manager, which I did while having kids, working a full time job and starting my own business with my husband, I have been a business owner since my oldest turned a month (over 8 years). My husband and I started the business from the ground up, it wasn't given to us by parents, grandparents, etc. we did it ourselves. Not only do I do all the business paperwork and accounting I also work a full time job out of the house as an account/office manager. So not everyone that is young with kids doesn't do anything with their lives.
I am not a Sarah Palin fan, since I feel she is an embarrassment for working mothers. But I do feel that we have rights just as much as a non-mother or man has.
My grandmothers, who taught
My grandmothers, who taught me all that you advocate, were born before women could vote. They both worked hard all their lives at outside jobs, and were thrilled to pieces the day I was admitted to a university that did not accept women of my mother's generation. They called themselves feminists, and I am so proud to carry their legacy forward.
As for "no one can take it away from you", all it takes is one Very Bad Day to find yourself unemployable and with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. I would be happy if no one ever experiences that horror again.
Special needs kids
Interesting..."You say you're going to be an advocate for special needs children, now that you have one of your own..."
That's disturbing. So, is she saying she had to have a special needs child before she could relate to the challenges...and now that she does, she is willing to do someting to help other special needs families?
I think...ALL mothers feel the challenges (regardless of whether or not we've truly experienced them) of a special needs child. I think all children, but surely special needs children, deserve all the love and support society can share. And that's key - sharing. The attention, the care, and...the wealth.
these are great questions!
I'd love to hear back from Gov. Palin on these questions. Every parent in the U.S. should have the same wonderful benefits she's enjoyed.
It would be great to hear her stances on our MOTHERS issues, which would provide those essential protections to all working families in the U.S. (Check out our MOTHER pages to learn more about each issue.)
Bitter? Really?
A call for a VP candidate -- the one who could be the leader of the free world at any moment if elected -- to answer questions in an honest and forthright way about her stand on the issues is being bitter?
I don't think so.
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