Member Articles

I do not think that the campaign could have predicted how much Palin's personal life would stir up this much conflict among women and mothers, in particular. It is striking to read about feminists questioning whether Palin is a "good mother" and whether she can help lead the country with the full plate of a new baby with Down Syndrome plus a daughter who will give birth around Inauguration Day. Then you have the conservatives who would typically balk at a woman making career a priority over family, lauding both Palin and her daughter for "living their values" by not terminating either of the pregnancies.  Feels like the Twilight Zone.

But beyond the partisan talking points both the Democrats and Republicans have been turning out over the last few news cycles, I really don't think that any mother can authentically take a side. Once you are in the thick of raising a family, you learn that not everything is clear-cut. We stay home because it's the "right thing to do" and we feel guilty that we are squandering our educations and opportunities afforded to us by the women's movement. We work and we feel angst that we are stretched too thin to properly nurture our families. We struggle to find good childcare and working environments flexible enough to meet the demands of breast feeding and school conferences. Or we try to have it both ways (work at home or work part-time) and find out that that's not the most gratifying on either front. I think most of us are just figuring it out -- not to mention the fact that for a majority of mothers, working is a necessity.

I do think that personal decisions DO reflect on character and can provide perspective someone's ability to lead. But at the same time, I feel that as a mother, the Palin controversy serves to underscore to me how much we need to respect the diverse choices of our fellow moms and to keep in mind that unless we walk in the other person's pumps, we really can't comprehend the facts of the matter. We try to raise our children not to be judgmental and neither should we. Motherhood isn't red or blue.