You can be a good mom and a good employee
A group reminds legislators that being a good mother as well as a valued employee shouldn't be mutually exclusive.
By Christina Rexrode, Times Staff Writer
Published July 1, 2007
There are certain traits of character that just come naturally to mothers: dependability, empathy, multitasking - the list goes on.
You'd think that corporate America would fall all over itself to recruit moms, and to keep them happy once they're in the office.
Not so, says a growing grass roots movement called Moms Rising. And its message has apparently struck a nerve: Since its founding just more than a year ago, the Internet-driven group has garnered 120, 000 members.
Jennifer Carlson, 29, is one of them. A couple of weeks ago, on a Tuesday night, she invited a few other career-conscious moms to her Apollo Beach home to watch The Motherhood Manifesto, a Moms Rising-approved documentary on the struggles that working moms may encounter in the office, including discrimination in pay or hiring.
Carlson, the mother of 7-month-old Arabella, is on child care leave from her job as a social worker for Sarasota County schools. She said she's always cared about issues faced by working moms - but now even more so, since they affect her everyday life.
"And my daughter's, too, " Carlson said. "It's not just me; it's my daughter."
Businesses benefit when they cater to mothers, the Moms Rising group is quick to point out. With the right workplace policies, a company can reduce turnover and raise morale and productivity.
But Moms Rising doesn't assume that all businesses will reach this revelation on their own, so it ardently encourages members to write to legislators and to vote for those who support "family friendly" workplace policies.
Carlson said her passion isn't meant to be partisan.
"Because it's not a political issue, " she said. "It's a mom issue."
The goal: Paid maternity/paternity leave
A study recently released by Harvard and McGill universities, the "2007 Work, Family and Equity Index, " examined how the United States' workplace policies measure up against those of 172 other countries. Only four of those countries, the study found, do not guarantee paid leave after childbirth: Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, Liberia and - you guessed it - the United States. Also, 66 of those countries guarantee paid paternity leave.
The reality: Currently, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act offers up to 12 weeks of unpaid time off to workers who have just given birth to or adopted a child, who need to care for a sick relative, or who are battling their own illnesses.
The Family Leave Insurance Act would take that a step further. The bill, which has been in committee in the U.S. Senate since June 21, would give workers up to eight weeks of paid leave for the same situations. Employers, employees and the federal government would jointly fund the program.
In California, new parents already are guaranteed up to six weeks of paid leave. Washington state enacted a similar measure in May.
The goal: Flexible hours
The new American Dream, by many counts, is less about money and more about work-life balance. Frank Luntz, a prominent GOP pollster, has said that the "free-time agenda" is up for grabs, politically.
The flexible schedule is one thing that Kimberly Tyll appreciates about her job in financial management at Ernst & Young in Tampa. "No one looks at you cross-eyed when you say, 'Hey, I need to leave at 4 o'clock next Thursday to watch my kid's ball game, ' " said Tyll, 33 and the mother of three young daughters.
But Hilary Kingery, who is 27 and a new mom on leave from teaching middle school science in Hillsborough County, pointed out that some employers - like schools - can't logistically offer such a perk. A spreadsheet can be put on hold; a classroom of children can't.
The reality: It would be difficult to legislate an abstract goal like flexible hours. Still, guaranteed paid sick leave is a step in the right direction, Moms Rising says.
The Healthy Families Act, which would offer just that, has been in committee in the U.S. House and Senate since March.
The goal: Better wages
Moms Rising says that on average, mothers make 73 cents to a man's dollar, and single mothers make 60 cents. Women without children make 90 cents to a man's dollar, the group says.
The reality: The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, introduced in the U.S. House on June 22, would make it easier for workers to file suit for pay discrimination. The bill passed committee Wednesday and will now be considered by the full House. It is named for a female Goodyear Tire supervisor who sued the company for back pay because her salary was 20 percent lower than that of the lowest-paid male supervisor. In May, the Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, that Ledbetter was ineligible for back pay because she filed her claim too late.
Christina Rexrode can be reached at crexrode@sptimes.com">href="mailto:crexrode@sptimes.com" mce_href="mailto:crexrode@sptimes.com">crexrode@sptimes.com or 727 893-8318.
About the organization
Founded: May 2006.
Number of members: 120, 000.
What it is: An online grass roots movement that encourages members to write to legislators and to vote for those who support "family friendly" workplace policies.
Its politics: Officially, Moms Rising is nonpartisan, though many of the groups it works with, like the AFL-CIO or the National Organization for Women, are left-leaning. And the co-founder of Moms Rising helped launch MoveOn.org, a liberal site that took an active role in the last presidential election.
Find out more: www.momsrising.org
Hold your own Motherhood Manifesto party