Moms Rising

My online friend Cooper Monroe, writes a blog with Emily McKhann called Been There.

Here's part of what Mommy Bloggers had to say about them in September 2006:

When Hurricane Katrina struck, Cooper and Emily watched in horror with the rest of the country. Determined to help, they turned their blog into a grassroots clearinghouse for needed goods. News of this effort spread like wildfire, and overnight, their site received a huge flood of traffic. With volunteer help and gumption to spare, Cooper and Emily moved the clearinghouse to a new domain, and kept the flow of goods moving.

Not content to rest on their laurels, they've become active in a group called Moms Rising. I've been on their mailing list for some time which probably makes me a member. They're a grass roots organization along the lines of moveon.org and are dedicated to improving conditions for families, especially in the workplace.

Yesterday or possibly the day before, Moms Rising was the subject of a feature article in the New York Times. I read it and emailed Cooper to tell her I was pleased to see it but why oh why did they put it in the Fashion & Style section? What do problems like family leave, health care, etc. have to do with Fashion & Style or the huge Ralph Lauren ad on the same page. Oh well, the article was favorable and we'll take the publicity any way we can get it.

Cooper's post (click on Been There) has a link to the NYT article. You may have to be registered to read it but it's not behind their idiotic firewall. If you can't read it or don't want to register, let me know. I'll send it. Meantime, Cooper provided these excerpts from the article:

A generation of mothers who are largely perceived as postfeminist in every way, from sex to economic discrimination, has begun a consciousness-raising that is almost old-fashioned were it not for the technology involved. Raised to believe that girls could accomplish anything, these women have reached parenthood, only to find they faced many of the same pay, equity and work-family balance issues that were being fought over decades before. From that awakening, they say, has come the inkling of a new movement.

The seeds for MomsRising were planted in 2004, when Ms. Blades read a book about women and politics by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, 36, a married mother of two. Ms. Blades, 51, said she was astonished to find that many younger women didn’t identify with feminism and by the data showing vast disparities in incomes between mothers and fathers, with single mothers faring particularly badly.

"I’d been doing the MoveOn thing for over eight years and I thought: ‘I’m an organizer and I wasn’t aware of this. I don’t know how many people are aware of this,’ ” she said.

Both Cooper's post and the Times article are well worth reading.