Let's Celebrate. There's Never Been a Better Time for Mothers
Let's Celebrate. There's Never Been a Better Time for Mothers
Editorial
By: Mary Riddell
Date: March 26, 2006
Source: Riddell, Mary. The Observer "Let's Celebrate. There's Never Been a Better Time for Mothers." March 26, 2006. 〈http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1739788,00.html〉 (accessed July 22, 2006).
About the Author: Mary Riddell is an award-winning London-based journalist and a weekly columnist for The Observer. She is also known for her columns in the Daily Mail and the New Statesman, and is the author of a biography of Katharine Worsley entitled The Duchess of Kent (2000). Riddell's commentaries cover topics ranging from family policy, social reform, and foreign relations to the British monarchy.
INTRODUCTION
Mary Riddell's column, written for Mother's Day in 2006, is an engaging commentary on the current status of motherhood in the United Kingdom. Riddell also touches on how mothering is perceived in the United States and Europe, and how this has changed in the last decade. Books, articles, blogs, and Internet forums and discussions about the nature of motherhood, its history, the best way to mother, and the so-called mommy wars between stay-at-home mothers and working mothers, have multiplied exponentially in the twenty-first century. Not only has more ink (and bandwidth) been consumed on and by mothers than ever before, but much of the writing on these topics has become progressively more polarized and fervent. The decision to have children or to remain childfree, human nature and sexual differences, feminism, economics, parenting styles and techniques, and matters of class, race, and religion are all important components of the recent literature on motherhood, which includes both non-fiction and fictional works. Although mothers have been around as long as humans have, at no other time has this state been so thoroughly examined, debated, and discussed.
PRIMARY SOURCE
[This text has been suppressed due to author restrictions]
[This text has been suppressed due to author restrictions]
[This text has been suppressed due to author restrictions]
SIGNIFICANCE
As Riddell notes, there has been a trend toward more complicated portrayals of motherhood in many recent memoirs (sometimes called "memoirs") and novels. Although few critics agree with Riddell's statement that women are currently taught that motherhood is hellish, many argue that recent authors dwell too much on the unsavory aspects of motherhood. Several authors have replied that they are attempting to counter the unrealistic, overwhelmingly joyful or humorous accounts of motherhood that predominated before the 1990s.
Riddell also mentions the inherent stresses of intensive parenting practices that have become prevalent amongst some upper socioeconomic classes in the U.S., and to some extent in the U.K., as described by Warner. The enormous proliferation of advice literature on mothering, many competing schools of thought on the best way to parent, and the idealization of motherhood in the media all contribute to what Riddell characterizes as the current neurosis.
Alison Wolf's 2006 article on feminism, social changes in the U.K., and related shifts in birth rates, which Riddell characterizes as a jeremiad, is just one example of recent examinations of motherhood and the changing role that mothers (both employed and those whose contribution is not figured into gross national profits) play in current theories relating economics, social change, population growth, and public policy. As Riddell describes from Wolf's work, women with children (particularly those with less education or who take a break from employment to do childcare) can, on average, expect to have lower wages than men. Riddell hints that pro-family policies can mitigate ensuing social changes and cites France as a better model. Although specific changes in employer and government regulation are not detailed here, Riddell lauded one such change—extending maternity leave from six to nine months in the U.K.—in her column for Mother's Day in 2005. Her conclusion—that unless mothers champion their own status, society never will—foreshadows recent activism by mothers in the U.S., where policies are generally much less family-friendly than in Europe and the U.K.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Books
Blades, Joan and Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner. The Motherhood Manifesto: What America's Moms Want—and What To Do About It. New York: Nation Books, 2006.
Douglas, Susan J. and Meredith W. Michaels. The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined Women. New York: Free Press, 2004.
Peskowitz, Miriam. The Truth Behind the Mommy Wars: Who Decides What Makes a Good Mother? Emeryville, Calif.: Seal Press, 2005.
Warner, Judith. Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety. New York: Riverhead Books, 2005.
Periodicals
Riddell, Mary. "Go Ahead, Make Mother's Day." The Observer (March 6, 2005).
Web sites
The Mothers Movement Online. "The Builders of New Myths: Friedan, Feminism and the Future, by Judith Stadtman Tucker." March 2006. 〈http://www.mothersmovement.org/features/06/03/newmyths_1.html〉 (accessed July 22, 2006).
Wolf, Alison. Prospect Magazine. "Working Girls." April 2006. 〈http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=7398〉 (accessed July 22, 2006).