A former boss of mine liked to comment on every decision she made in my presence because she sincerely felt that as a mentor she needed to explain it all to me. One of the trueisms was that you have to manage and make rules according to the lowest denominator. My concern that day happened to be that we didn’t get access to our sick days until after six months of employment. As a new mom, I knew how valuable sick days were, especially when we also had no access to vacation days until that magical six months.

I return to her advise when I hear story after story of mothers or pregnant women being discriminated against. On the surface I can understand how a supervisor “burned” by a new mom who picks up and leaves for stay-at-home-paradise would hold a grudge against other women. Women like Linda Hirshman would say that this proves that women “opting out” is ruining it for the rest of us hearty women who stay in the workplace. Of course, I’m never that eager to blame other women, but would rather look at the system to see what could change.
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Welcome to Moms on Issues! As Veronica mentioned, on this new blog, Veronica and I are going to be tackling political and social issues facing working moms today. From moms in the media to caring for our elders and our kids, we’ve got it covered.

We’re thrilled to be a part of the WIM team and hope you enjoy our points of view. We promise to speak our minds so be sure to speak yours as well. Anyway, here goes…
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Whether you’re a mom who works outside of the home or from home or doesn’t work at all, I’m sure at one time or another you’ve found yourself hitting that proverbial brick wall. Being a mom is tiring - even after you get your kid to sleep through the night (and sometimes even achieving that is a challenge). So if someone offered me a pill to feel more energized and focused throughout the day I’d leap at the chance to take it. Wouldn’t you?

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I’ve Veronica and I’m a mom with a lot of issues. Every other week I’ll share some of them with you and I hope we have a great discussion. While I will focus my issues around the media’s portrayal of working moms, I won’t limit myself to that either.

My stance is that as a society we are all still adjusting to the idea of working mothers aka women who have small children and work outside the home, either part-time or full-time. Because our society moves at a snail’s pace in reacting to the rapid change that has happened, it confounds a lot of people, especially those in the media, about whether we are selfish or Superwomen. That said, the fact that every mother is a working mother also confounds people. What do you mean that cleaning and nurturing your child is work? That’s what you are built for right? Well, yes…and no.
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