Mothers and those who love them hauled the world's largest Mother's Day Card to Congress yesterday to rally support for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.  Pregnant workers are far too often forced unwillingly on to unpaid leave, fired, or otherwise separated from their jobs unnecessarily and in violation of federal law. The #PWFA establishes once and for all that pregnant workers are entitled to exactly the same reasonable accommodations that employers are required under the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide to any worker.  For some pregnant moms,( most have trouble-free pregnancies), that could mean access to a water bottle, staying off tall ladders, extra bathroom breaks, or following doctor's orders for a healthy pregnancy.   

We were delighted when Senators Shaheen (VT), Casey, (PA), Blumenthal (CT), Merkley (OR) and Representatives Nadler  (NY) and Skinner (WV).  All made the point that no mom should have to choose between the health of her pregnancy or her job, and that passage of this bill was waaaaay past its due date!!  And there was cake!

Did you see Jon Stewart's brilliant riff on how Hillary Clinton's political chances will be affected by her new status as a grandmother?  It is priceless  - especially the part about how women in politics are emotional, and men are (supposedly) not.   Wonderful stuff.

Next up, a short and snappy TED talk from Jennifer Senior, author of All Joy and No Fun; The Paradox of Modern Parenthood, about how expectations on parents have changed, how it makes us crazy, and how to make it stop.   

And to round out the video hit parade, take a look at New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.  When she gets rolling on paid family leave, minimum wage, and the American dream, everybody jump back!   My favorite bit is her observations on women in politics, especially the part starting at minute 10:00 where she speaks to all of us, saying:

Just in time for Mother's Day, the scholars at the Pew Research Center in Washington DC have released After Decades of Decline, A Rise in  Stay-at-Home Mothers.  Everybody has an opinion about mothers, so an uptick in the number of SAHMs from 23% to 29% generated a good deal of media attention. NPR interviewed the study's author, D'Vera Cohn, who indicated that college educated mothers still mostly work for money outside the home, but immigrant mothers, and less-educated mothers, are more likely to stay home.  Personal preference or conviction is not the reason.  Rather, it's the lack of a job, and the sky high cost of child care, that keeps these moms at home.   What would help here?  I suggest stronger equal pay laws, raising the minimum wage, investing public funds in quality child care programs. And paid family leave, obviously. 

Also on the airwaves, an intelligent discussion of the gender pay gap with Emily Martin of the National Women's Law Center.  The 77% figure has been discussed at nauseam - and I don't think it's the most important part of the conversation.  There is no argument that women are not making it through the pipeline to the upper echelons in the fields that they've trained for and worked in.  Our paltry numbers in terms of political leadership, the C Suite, or among the titans of industry and finance speaks for itself.  Pay is definitely a part of that - but an important part of the story is changing the structures that impede those with family responsibility, and getting rid of fixed gender stereotypes.

You get to choose your own book - hop over to Goodreads.com and join the MOTHERS Book Bag Group.  You will find dozens of titles on all things maternal and a good number of things helpful, funny, encouraging, and enlightening.  Please join our group, and let us know if you have books to add to our bookshelf.

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