• Last updated 1/7/13 by Melanie Mayo

This morning thousands of Hyatt hotel workers across the country walked out on strike demanding justice on the job for unionize and non-union hotel workers.[1] Many of these workers are women who work as housekeepers in the hotels. Hotel work is highly gender segregated with housekeeping as an almost solely female job. In non-union hotels, like the Hilton Long Beach, housekeepers are given only 15 minutes to change bedding, scrub the bathroom floor, vacuum, empty the trash, and change the linens in addition to cleaning up the scattered belongings of the hotel... read more

• Last updated 5/19/10 by Mothering Editorial

Issue 123, March/April 2004 It happens at least a few times a week. It's bedtime. We brush our teeth, get into pajamas, and settle into the biggest bed in the world to read a story or two. The baby happily crawls from daddy to me, clambering over her three-year-old sister. Our five year old cuddles close and listens intently to the story. Then it's lights out, and time for everyone to nurse to sleep. Our children are very tired, but their bodies seem unable to loosen their grip on wakefulness. Our five year old pulls up the covers and patiently... read more

• Last updated 1/17/10 by Jennifer Margulis

1. I don’t make my son cut his toenails often enough (right now they look like talons on a bird of prey). 2. I can’t sleep past 3:30 a.m. unless I go to bed before 8 p.m. I almost never go to bed before 8 p.m. 3. I watch “Saturday Night Fever” with my 10-year-old. (We fast forward through the gang rape scene. I forgot there was a gang rape scene. “Mommy, what was happening there?” “That girl got upset because she had too much to drink and she was taking drugs and then she realized she did not want those boys hugging and kissing her and she felt really bad.”) 4. I eat an... read more

• Last updated 3/31/13 by mamazee

Earlier this week I posted a list of questions about feminism and fatherhood that were adapted from "10 questions on feminist motherhood," posed by Australian feminist mommy blogger Blue Milk. I promised that I would try to answer them. Here it goes: 1. How would you describe your feminism in one sentence? When did you become profeminist? Was it before or after you became a father? On its most personal level, feminism is a reminder to me to do my utmost to treat the women in my life with respect, something I admit often falls to the wayside in the heat of an... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

I awoke last night to darkness. Not the room, in this case, but my sense of things. You know that dark night of the soul feeling you can get in the wee hours when you’re sure* that all is lost and you’re alone, inadequate, a failure, etc? Times like this I long for reassurance from someone who knows more than I do, someone I can trust to tell me everything is OK. I want Mom. But not my mom. (For starters, I wouldn’t want to freak her out with my freakout.) It’s more like I want the idea of Mom.** When we talk about the empty nest, we tend to focus on... read more

• Last updated 3/11/13 by mamazee

Friends on a Swing Hi Friends, Last week, we worked with Apologize, Forgive, Release. I hope those who wrote in felt lighter after sharing; thank you for your contributions! One L.O.V.E. Parenting Technique CD is on its way to Sara. This week we celebrate what is working well with and clarify our intentions for how we’d like things to be with an exercise called: Celebrate, Welcome, Intend. You can do the exercise as a written entry in a journal set aside for this purpose, or you can do this as a spoken exercise. This exercise involves... read more

• Last updated 10/18/12 by emilyfrischmann

Led by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CFCC), a coalition of 21 advocacy groups is demanding that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) comply with the Federal Trade Commission's recent recommendation for explicit restrictions on the marketing of PG-13 films to young children. In a letter sent last week to MPAA CEO Dan Glickman, CCFC urged the MPAA to develop a policy that would restrict the advertising of PG-13 films on children's television; prohibit restaurant toy giveaways or other food promotions aimed at young children for PG-13 movies;... read more

• Last updated 1/5/12 by Mothering Editorial

By Donald Lieber Web Exclusive Islamabad. March 2004. The spicy varieties of fresh tea served to me during my recent visit to Pakistan, in numerous cafes and street stands throughout this diverse and misunderstood nation, made me realize that there was, finally, much more to a cup of tea than Mr. Lipton and a slice of lemon. My epiphany of tea was among many fond memories I recall from my first visit to Pakistan - a venture made necessary when my six year old daughter moved there with her mother, an American aid worker. While enjoying the exotic teas, the... read more

• Last updated 12/5/10 by Mothering Editorial

By Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner Issue 111, March/April 2002 Kathryn Spracklin was in her kitchen in Montreal , Quebec , making a snack for her son and listening to a radio interview with Evelyn Drescher, of Mothers Are Women (MAW). "As a new mom, I'd been feeling that I wasn't being true to my idea of what a feminist should do, which was to work at a paid job," Spracklin recalls. "Listening to that interview, I realized for the first time that maybe feminism wasn't just associated with making an income." This insight moved her to join MAW, a Canadian activist group that... read more

• Last updated 4/1/10 by Jennifer Margulis

This morning I visited my friend in jail. The rules about visiting hours are strict. If you’re not there 15 minutes before your appointed time, you forfeit the opportunity to go in. You can only bring your keys and ID. And before you can get permission, they put you on hold on the phone and do some kind of background check. They wouldn’t let me bring the baby so I nursed her right before I left and drove to Medford alone. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to find it. I was afraid I would forget my ID. I was afraid I’d cry the moment I saw my friend. “What if I cry?” I... read more