*Mother Fckrs

I've just read the Washington Post book review for The Feminine Mistake by Leslie Bennett, a book about the economic realities that mothers face . You can read Rachel Hartigan Shea's review here! Shea does a very thorough job of encapsulating Bennett's work. Here are the hard facts:

• Mothers are 44% less likely to be hired than non-mothers with the same experience
• Employers pay mothers an average of $11,000 less in starting salary than non-mothers with the same qualifications
• Women lose 37% of their earning power after 3 years at home.
• Of the 74% of mothers who return to work, only 40% are able to find full time employment

To say that this ruffles my feminist feathers is an understatement! I have a visceral reaction to injustice. In general, women in America earn only 2/3 of what men do and women artists earn only 1/3 of what men do, so when I'd learned of the further beat-down that mothers get, I was furious. Ok, I know, women have been getting *fckd (both literally and figuratively) throughout history so this new analysis should come as no surprise, but it continues to anger me. Some interesting reading about the feminine struggle in the art world and health care professions can be found here, here, and here! (two subjects close to my heart)

I would like to close with my own hard facts in favor of femininity and motherhood:

• The wonder of sharing my body with another human being for 40 weeks and the awe of feeling the first flutters of life.
• The magnitude of labor that I can only describe as an earthquake in my body. A sensation so mighty that it literally drove me to my knees. A powerful energy that shook me from sleep like those summer storms that seemingly come out of nowhere with a loud clap and a bolt of light. It was as if my body was saying, "this is IT...the miraculous is happening...life is coming through you". The birth of my son was a quake that shook the very core of my being and split my perception of the world wide open.
  
• The tenderness of nourishing life at my breast...with milk that contains exactly the right amount of protein and fat and antibodies. The sweetness of watching little eyes roll back with satisfaction and a milk drippy chin.
• The privilege of being a SAHM and being there for the first smile, first words, first steps...

The reality is...all life comes through the feminine. The female is the doorway to life. In spite of the sexism that continues to exist, I wouldn't trade motherhood for ANYTHING, not even a penis or a paycheck because.....I'VE GOT THE POWER!!! (Shall we dance?)


*I apologize for the profanity, but I felt it was both appropriate and witty given the nature of the post.