Together

SCHIP Update & Help Override the Veto!

Last night tens of thousands of people--including many MomsRising members--gathered at rallies around the nation to protest President Bush’s veto of federal funding for SCHIP, a program providing health insurance for children in need. We're making a difference together! Now that the rallies are done, we need you to to email a letter to your Congressperson urging them to override President Bush's veto.

A noose under the lunch tree: The Jena 6 and thoughts on the motherhood movement

If you’ve had a kid in high school, you know this. If you have a little one, you’ll know it soon enough. It’s the lunchtime ritual. When that noon bell rings, the teenagers come barreling out of their classrooms, divide up, and head to their group’s designated spot to eat lunch. Well, maybe they actually eat something, but mostly they just hang out together. When they look back on their high school days, it’ll probably be these lunch spots and the memories formed there that they remember most.

A Peaceful Revolution

We have launched new blog that is crossposted at The HuffintonPost.com. It is about consciousness raising and culture change. Very few Americans realize that there is deep bias against mothers in this country and that we are undermining family's ability to care for children. I began to understand this a few years ago when I learned that equal pay for equal work is just as big a problem today as it was 40 years ago. I was shocked! Women without children now earn 90 cents to a man's dollar, mothers earn 73 cents, and single mothers earn about 60 cents to a man's dollar. A study done last year revealed that a mother is 79 percent less likely to be offered a job when all other factors -- including resumes, education, and job experience -- are equal. Ever wonder why there are so many women and children in poverty? Every wonder why there are so few women in leadership? Since over 80 percent of women become mothers I would say that women have a long way to go before they have equal opportunity in this country. Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner and I wrote The Motherhood Manifesto and launched www.MomsRising.org in 2006 and FamiliesRising.org in 2007 with policy and culture change in mind.

Breastfeeding Mom Denied!

Doctors agree that breastmilk is best for infants, but their own licensing board isn't following doctor's orders. Sophie Currier recently learned that when it comes to supporting breastfeeding, many of our leaders--whether they are in the medical establishment (as in Sophie's case), business sector, or elsewhere--still don't "walk the talk." You see, Sophie was denied breast pumping breaks during her nine hour medical licensing exam. She's not alone. Even in this day and age when the medical evidence is clear that breastfeeding is best for infants, women are regularly denied the time and location to pump.