It is a story that pulled ahead of the pack in the bleary hours of early morning news.  Hilary Rosen, a consultant to the Democrats and CNN commentator, has called out Mitt Romney and his wife for comments they have made about women and the economy.  While speaking with Anderson Cooper on CNN, Rosen suggested that Romney hasn’t “worked a day in her life”.  In the Twitterverse and blogosphere all buttons pointing to mothers, their participation in the workforce and access to affordable childcare are fully engaged.  Stay-at-home-dads have also been pulled into the conversation.

Ann Romney responded by sharing her opinion about Stay-at-Home Moms on her new (and verified) Twitter account:

I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work.

— Ann Romney (@AnnDRomney) April 12, 2012

Romney explained that her “career choice was to be a mother and [she thinks] all of us need to know that we need to respect choices that women make.” Hilary Rosen also shared her response to Romney on Twitter:

@AnnDRomney I am raising children too. But most young American women HAVE to BOTH earn a living AND raise children. You know that don’t u? — Hilary Rosen (@hilaryr) April 12, 2012

In a discussion with Anderson Cooper on CNN, Rosen agreed with the Romney’s belief that women are more focussed on economic issues related to their families than they are on other topics.  Similarly, Canadian election-related research shows that women are most attuned to political messages that focus on social welfare and issues that affect the economic reality of their family life.

In OECD assessments, the United States and Canada provide some of the poorest early childhood education and care offerings.  Parental leave rights in the United States are a fraction of the 12 months provided in Canada. On this topic, feminist author Jessica Valenti  joined the conversation on Twitter:

Since @mittromney & @AnnDRomney value women’s domestic work so much, when will they discuss their plan for national paid parental leave?

— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) April 12, 2012

The developing story related to this exchange highlights the divide between Republican and Democrat priorities that is also seen in Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) prefers to provide Canadian families with cash in hand that they can use to either pay for daycare or raise children at home.  Unfortunately the amount provided barely makes a dent in the costs that families in British Columbia encounter, for example, when they need to use daycare.  British Columbians and Canadians in other provinces (excluding Quebec) cannot find daycare even if they CAN afford the fees.  Wait-lists for high quality programmes can be three years long. (Two years too long for mothers in the workforce.) In contrast to the priorities of the CPC, the NDP, Green Patry and Liberal Party of Canada political parties are focussed on developing a national early childhood education and care programme. Provisions for parental leave in the United States are less than half of what is provided in Canada.  Women cobble together a few weeks leave by adding in vacation time as well. For most women, financial needs dictate that they will return to work. “The United States of America, for example, is the only OECD country without a national paid parental leave policy, although some states do provide leave payments. Available parental leave is short (12 weeks), and only covers some employees (those in companies with 50+ workers). While making changes will involve a cost to employers, there will be benefits not only to child well-being but also the labour market, as evidence suggests that when US mothers take their full leave entitlement, they are more likely to return to work than mothers who do not.” (OECD, Better Life Index)   Of 173 countries surveyed, the United States of America, Lesotho, Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland are the only countries were there is no national law requiring paid time off for new parents. Hilary Rosen also suggested that Ann Romney has not “dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of women in [the United States] are facing in terms of how do [they] feed [their] kids? How do [they] send them to school and why do [they] worry about their future?”  Rosen’s comments speak more to a critique of an affluent, privileged woman than a woman who is the average stay-at-home mom.  Most stay-at-home moms in the United States live on modest one household incomes – or income assistance – and have financial concerns similar to those of mothers in the workforce.

Why is it controversial to say that incredibly rich, elite Ann Romney prolly doesnt understand the economic concerns of most American women? — Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) April 12, 2012

The issues raised by the Romneys, Hilary Rosen and their supporters bring forward many questions:

How do we define a woman’s work? (See related NYTimes piece.)

Why do women choose to stay at home with their children?

Are some mothers at home full-time due to specific lifestyle choices such as religion, intellectual beliefs, homesteading or living off the grid, for example?

Are some women’s choices related to the availability, cost and/or quality of childcare?

Is the choice to stay at home with one’s children an economic luxury in the United States and Canada?  Would some parents like to stay at home with the children, but can’t afford to do so?

Are some women staying at home when they would rather, if they could, be in the workforce? (See similar issue in the UK.)

What contributions do stay-at-home-mothers make to the quality of life of their families and, in an unpaid capacity, through their contributions to society?

How are employers helping mothers to enter and stay in the workforce? Are employers providing incentives for mothers to return to work – as this Australian company is doing?  Are employers providing mentoring programmes?

Are large corporations offering affordable in-house daycare?

Are some women, as Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg repeatedly points out, choosing to mentally check out and “leave before their leave” when they could and should be planning a return to work, post pregnancy?  Are women who stay at home with their children avoiding or escaping from jobs that are not, as Sandberg suggests, “compelling”?

For women who do want to be in the workforce, what quality of childcare will they encounter in their communities?  Are the programmes that are provided stimulating and nurturing for children?

What choices do single mothers – especially those with limited or no extra financial support – have when it comes to raising their children, working and childcare?

How do the provisions for high quality and accessible childcare in states and provinces compare to those in countries such as Finland and Sweden?

How can we encourage the development of government policies that support both women in the workforce and women who choose to stay at home full or part time with their children?

How can we encourage respectful dialogue about the diverse life and career choices that women make rather than focusing on ideas promoted by partisan politics?

What effect do short or long term parental leaves have on a woman’s career, her earning potential and her pension?

How do members of the media keep a spotlight on the needs of children and families in their communities and countries?

Do members of the media focus on the key topics or are they distracted by trending, and not necessarily typical topics such as Tiger Moms?

How do politicians stay abreast of the challenges that their constituents are facing?

Are politicians in the United States and Canada following public discourse about these topics in the media  – including their own media? (Prime Minister Stephen Harper, for example, admits that he does not follow the Canadian news.)

How are individual citizens sharing information about their experiences in public spaces such as social media?

The issues this media moment raises are important topics that will not necessarily be addressed adequately during presidential and federal election campaigns. Members of the media will pick up the story today and drop it again the day after tomorrow.  It is left to women and their partners to speak up and share their stories on their websites, blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and in their personal and professional conversations.

What is your story? Why did you decide to stay at home full-time with your children, or work full or part time?  What quality of childcare have you accessed?  Was it difficult to secure a space? What are your thoughts about the cost, availability and quality of childcare programmes?  If you could make changes, would you? How have your decisions related to childcare affected your career path, promotion opportunities and pension?

We’d love to hear from you so don’t be shy! You can comment about this posting using the comment function below or visit us at our Facebook page.

Related

Modern Motherhood:  Readers Respond (From The Guardian newspaper. Includes comments.)

Why we still have the Stay -at-Home Mom debate (There are 902 comments and counting!)

Ann Romney discusses the controversy

Women short-changed in retirement economy for generation raising their children

Leverage Lessons Learned [Being at Home Full-Time With Your Children]

Sheryl Sandberg speaking about work-life balance

Pew Research Center Findings Regarding Working Mothers

Is Canada a Case of Gender Re-Alignment?

Ann Romney, Working Woman?

Working Mom Challenges: Paid Leave, Child Care

What a Stay-At-Home Mum’s Salary Should Be Worth.

Image: Ann Romney with her children and grandchildren

A day does not go by when a Stay at Home or Working Out of the Home mother does not find a news story telling her what she is doing, not doing and feeling.   We live in an era when findings from studies – well designed or not – are easily disseminated by way of social media links, online media outlets or attention-grabbing headlines on the national news.    This type of information even shows up on websites like this one!

The latest research about mothers and depression was presented this week by Katrina Leupp, graduate student from the University of Washington, at an American Sociological Association conference in Nevada.   Leupp accessed a National Longtitudinal Survey run by the US. Department of Labor that included data from a survey of 1,600 married women carried out in 2006. At the time the average age of the women was 40. These same women were interviewed previously when they were between age 22 and 30 about their attitudes towards being a working mother. Leupp concluded that the women who were keenest to engage in careers while being parents were more likely to suffer from depression than women who were initially against the idea of trying to balance both roles. Or to put it another way, the keen women initially responded that the combination of a career and parenthood could be done with relative ease.

A second finding was that women who are stay at home mums, and who often cannot enter the workforce due to circumstances beyond their control, are more likely to experience depression than mums who work outside of the home.  Many of the news articles reporting the findings are highlighting the idea, to use their wording, that super moms, with high flying careers, need to chill.  You can hear the gnashing teeth of hard working women everywhere who are busy working outside of the home and raising children.

In media interviews Leupp repeatedly states that working is beneficial for a woman’s health; however, does it follow that staying out of the workforce is bad for women’s health? Nobody would suggest that there aren’t women who are happy to be at home full time  caring for their children.   While many of these women would be able to point to daily challenges that they experience, many would also argue that their mental health is as good as the average mother who works outside of the home.  Are all women who are forced to exit the workforce due to economic or other circumstances likely to suffer in terms of their health? Here in Canada Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party colleagues favour the stay at home option.  The Federal government currently provides Canadian parents with modest payments that can be used as parents see fit.  This is a soft version of the “everyone can look after themselves” attitudes you find in the United States and increasingly in Great Britain.  One could argue that it is an approach that would be more favourable to conservative (with a small c) Canadian families who believe that the mother should stay at home with their children in the early years.

Conversely, in many western European OECD countries governments have promoted social policies, such as fully funded and accessible childcare for pre-toddlers and older, that support the re-entry of mothers into the workforce.  The underlying strategy was to increase female participation in the workforce in order to strengthen their economies.  Here in Canada the question of mothers (or a stay at home father) entering the workforce and the funding of Early Childhood Education & Care (ECEC) centres is never discussed in these terms.   In Scandinavia, where social policy related to women and children is advanced compared to North American standards, a reporter would be hard pressed to find a mother who isn’t working outside the home.

The current approach to ECE&C funding by the Federal and Provincial governments is an alternative to the Federal and Provincial funding of accessible and affordable ECEC facilities.   In cities such as Ottawa, the New Democrat Party are reporting that 9,000 families (you read that right) are on wait lists for licensed care facilities.  The situation in Vancouver is equally as bleak.  It is not unusual to meet a parent who will tell you that they were on a licensed child care facility wait list for three years before a space opened up.  For two years following maternity leave, the parents “made do” with less than adequate alternatives.

Meanwhile many women in more senior positions, such as older mums over 30, are returning to their jobs before their maternity leaves are over in order to protect their jobs.  A long absence from a management position, for example, greatly reduces a woman’s influence in an office, in a  political sense; can affect future work allocation and participation in ongoing projects;  and, can directly or indirectly lead to changes in a job profile or even dismissal while on maternity leave. (See:  Working to Live )  Accommodations for all of these possible outcomes are usually included in the administrative policies of larger organizations.  As one female author online asked, “who’s more likely to be dismissed during an office reshuffle?  The man who gave a PowerPoint presentation last week or the woman who’s been off for months on maternity leave?”

How does these considerations relate to a study about mothers and depression?  In North America we receive failing grades from international organizations such as the OECD in the area of ECE&C.  Privately we value our children, but collectively we have been unable to decide how we want to support parents and caregivers, as they in turn care for children.  We debate about whether children should be cared for by the parent or a licensed care giver.  We debate about how should pay for these services.  We debate about what types of programme should be in place and who should pay for these programmes.  Some might argue that – quite frankly – we’re hardly debating about these topics at all. They arise every four years during election time, and disapear again.  Meanwhile women  – young and older mothers – are struggling to reconcile their role as parent with their role as employee without the support of strong policies in the workforce and the understanding of Canadians in general.  Leupp concludes that, at least in the United States, for many women these struggles include depression.

In reference to the University of Washington study, Leupp points out that there are women at home with their children who cannot fully engage in the workforce in the United States where, despite the shorter maternity leaves, working conditions are similar to those in Canada. Why is that?  Is there no available childcare?  Is childcare too unaffordable?  Are the terms of her working life so restrictive that it became too difficult to work?

Leupp also mentions a finding that has been highlighted in other research studies.  Women – whether or not they work outside of the home – still complete the majority of the housework in the home. In Canada that rate is well over 50%.  How does this rate compare to other countries?  As the author suggests, should women simply accept this reality, or can we, in our society, encourage new attitudes towards sharing the workload on the home front?  Leupp also touches on the topic of stay at home fathers.  Increasingly fathers in Canada are taking advantage of paternity leave or are considering their options when it comes to staying at home with their children.  In Scandinavia there are strong examples of how men can contribute to the full time care of children, thereby allowing mothers to protect their careers as well.  (See:   Fatherhood in Sweden )

A focus of Leupp’s study centres on womens’ expectations.  Her findings suggest more questions. Is it realistic for a young woman to expect that a career and parenthood should go together seemlessly?  How do the attitudes of a Generation X parent compare to those of younger women today who were raised in slightly different family circumstances?  How do the depictions in the media of harried, super multi tasking, hovering, Tiger mums influence a woman’s ability to define what she wants and can expect for  her own parenting journey?

Tomorrow, or the next day, another study will be released with more information about motherhood and parenting.  Here in British Columbia and in Canada the challenge for mothers and parents everywhere is to engage in increased and louder discussions about their experiences and needs.   Many questions need to be asked.  What types of work/childcare arrangements are working for them?  What isn’t working?  What types of changes help them?  How much does it cost parents to pay for childcare? How much does it cost them to live in the Lower Mainland or other parts of British Columbia and Canada?  How much are their mortgage payments  and what is their cost of living compared to their income?  How long is their commute?  What type of commute do they have?  What type of transit options can parents access? What type 0f childcare facility/provider are they using?  What type of childcare programme does their child experience in this center?  How would they assess the quality of care there?  What are the professional qualificiations of their childcare provider?  What did she/he have to study in order to achieve these qualifications?  How supportive are their employers and colleagues regarding the daily challenges they face as a parent?  Do some of their colleagues resent that they might use sick time to support their sick child or that they might arrive late or leave early in order to support their child’s needs?  Does their office allow for some work-at-home time?  Did the mother return to work before her maternity leave was finished?  Does she feel that her position at work was compromized because of her absence from work? Did she feel that she needed to stay in touch with the office and with the progression of work and ongoing projects at the office while on maternity leave in order to protect her position?  If her position was cut during maternity leave, why does she think that happened? Why do Stay at Home Mums prefer to be a stay at home parent?  As a SAHM, what are the rewards and challenges of her role?  What kind of support networks and resources do they have in their community for their children and for themselves?  What kind of services can she access that are free or affordable?  Does she feel isolated from or a part of an adult world where most people work outside of the home?   Does she feel that people respect her choice to be a  SAHM beyond maternity leave?  Do people still recognize her other academic and professional qualifications in conversations and interactions?  Would she be able to find part-time care should she take on a part-time job or work from home?

These are some of the many questions and topics that women can and do discuss privately, at work, online and in the media.  With the advancements in technology and new tools coming out monthly in the realm of Social Media, women in urban and rural British Columbia can use creative methods to get their message out.  Studies can help to raise further questions but the women who are directly involved need to be at the centre of the conversations and the related development of social policies by Federal and Provincial governments.

We’d love to hear from you so don’t be shy! You can comment about this posting using the comment function below or visit us at our Facebook page.

Related

Readers comment on this topic over at the Globeandmail.com

What Happy Working Mothers Know:  How New Findings in Positive Psychology Can Lead to a Healthy and Happy Work/Life Balance* (See related review )

To the Mothers Who Work Outside of the Home

Stay-at-home moms have the hardest job – latimes.com
Depression danger of the supermums who try and do everything themselves | Mail Online
No such thing as a supermom: Study | Life | Toronto Sun
Motherhood More Depressing Than Ever
Who Is Happier, The Working Mother or the Stay-At-Home Mom?
Women who want to be supermoms at higher depression risk – WDAF
Being A Stay At Home Mom Is The Toughest Job For Women | SmartAboutHealth.Net
‘Supermums’ more likely to be depressed – Telegraph
Supermums with high-flying careers at risk of depression, study says – mirror.co.uk
Supermom Myth Can Make You Miserable – Health News – Health.com
Working Women Who Try to Be ‘Supermom’ May Be More Depressed TIME Healthland

* BCFamily.ca is a member of the Amazon Associates Programme