Motherhood Politics

In the late 1960s, at the age of eighteen and living far from home amidst the thriving counterculture of Ottawa, Marilyn Churley got pregnant. Like thousands of other women of the time she kept the event a secret. Faced with few options, she gave the baby up for adoption. Over twenty years later, as the Ontario NDP government’s minister responsible for all birth, death, and adoption records, including those of her own child, Churley found herself in a surprising and powerful position–fully engaged in the long and difficult battle to reform adoption disclosure laws and find her son.

In the Country of Women is a valuable social history and a personal narrative that reads like a love song to America and indomitable women. In inland Southern California, near the desert and the Mexican border, Susan Straight, a self-proclaimed book nerd, and Dwayne Sims, an African-American basketball player, started dating in high school. After college, they married and drove to Amherst, Massachusetts, where Straight met her teacher and mentor, James Baldwin, who encouraged her to write.

Seventeen years ago, when Rebecca Thompson endured a string of life-threatening pregnancy losses and rare medical conditions, her training as a physician didn’t protect her from feeling isolated and overwhelmed. What she longed for was a community of women—or even one encouraging story—to reassure her that she wasn’t alone. Deciding to create the community she couldn’t find in her own time of need, Dr. Thompson reached out to friends, patients, and medical colleagues and asked them to share the stories of their personal journeys to parenthood.

In her first book, The Presidency in Black and White, journalist April Ryan examined race in America through her experience as a White House reporter. In this book, she shifts the conversation from the White House to every home in America. At Mama's Knee looks at race and race relations through the lessons that mothers transmit to their children.

Bullshitsätze wie "Viele Frauen wollen doch gar keine Karriere machen." oder "Vermisst du dein Kind nicht, wenn du alleine wegfährst?" bekommen wir wohlwollend von unseren Freundinnen zu hören oder werden uns von engsten Familienmitgliedern heimtückisch ins Ohr geflüstert, bis wir ihnen glauben – und das Patriarchat sich freudestrahlend die Hände reibt. Dieses Hörbuch ist die ultimative Anleitung zum Parieren solcher Sätze.

Heike Kleen hält Gleichberechtigung für essenziell, sich selbst aber nicht gerade für eine Vorzeigefeministin. Sie fragt sich: Wieso stecke ich in der Teilzeitfalle? Wieso lächle ich auch dann, wenn mir nicht danach zumute ist? Und wieso rate ich meinem Sohn "Hau zurück!", nachdem der sich hat vermöbeln lassen, obwohl ich toxische Männlichkeit ablehne? Wie Heike Kleen geht es vielen: Der Wille zum Feminismus ist da, wenn da nur nicht - neben der strukturellen Benachteiligung - die Fallstricke des Alltags wären. Was tun?

Women in today's advanced capitalist societies are encouraged to "lean in." The media and government champion women's empowerment. In a cultural climate where women can seemingly have it all, why do so many successful professional women - lawyers, financial managers, teachers, engineers, and others - give up their careers after having children and become stay-at-home mothers? How do they feel about their decision and what do their stories tell us about contemporary society?

Versorgerin, Businesswoman, Mom I’d Like to Fuck - Mütter sollen alles sein und dabei bitte glücklich. Egal, ob es um Arbeit, Geld, Sex, Körper, Psyche oder Liebe geht: Stereotype, Klischees und gesellschaftlichen Druck gibt es überall, auf Instagram, im Bett und im Büro. Dass unter diesem Druck das Wohlbefinden von Müttern leidet, ist kein Wunder. Mareice Kaiser schreibt poetisch und politisch, faktenreich und persönlich, modern und mutig über Mutterschaft und zeigt, wo Mütter heute stehen: noch immer öfter am Herd als in Entscheidungspositionen. Und, wo sie stehen sollten: dort, wo sie selbst sich sehen, frei und selbstbestimmt.

Mothers are the breadwinners in two-thirds of American families, yet the American workplace is uniquely hostile to the needs of parents. Weaving in surprising research about the dysfunction between the careers and home lives of working mothers, as well as the consequences to women's health, Alcorn tells a deeply personal story about "having it all,” failing miserably, and what comes after. Ultimately, she offers readers a vision for a healthier, happier, and more productive way to live and work.

In this 10th anniversary edition, renowned political commentator Cokie Roberts once again examines the nature of women's roles. From mother to mechanic, sister to soldier, Roberts reveals how much progress has now been made and how much further we have to go. Updated and expanded to include a diverse new cast of women, including Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Billie Jean King, and others, this collection of essays offers tremendous insight into the opportunities and challenges that women encounter today.

When MaryAnne Howland's son was turning 13, she organized a "Black Mitzvah" rite of passage celebration for him. Max is one of the one-in-three children in America being raised without a father in the home. Among African Americans, that number is reported to be as high as 72 percent. To help fill the father-shaped hole in Max's life as he transitioned from boyhood to manhood, MaryAnne invited four men from different corners of her life - an engineer, a philanthropist, a publisher, and a financial planner - to become Max's mentors.

This diary of acclaimed psychologist and radical feminist icon Phyllis Chesler was a pioneering work when it was first published in 1979. A look into the second wave of feminism and the era’s changing attitudes toward motherhood and pregnancy, With Child - now with an updated preface from her son - remains relevant for mothers today.

Genitori in coppia, coniugata e di fatto, più di due genitori, un figlio ad ogni costo, genitori omosessuali: diversi modi di essere madri e padri e una molteplicità di forme di famiglia.

In this spiritual memoir, a white woman in an interracial marriage and mixed-race family paints a beautiful path from white privilege toward racial healing, from ignorance toward seeing the image of God in everyone she meets.

Marianne Leone's Ma is in many senses a larger-than-life character, one who might be capable, even from the afterlife, of shattering expectations. Born on a farm in Italy, Linda finds her way to the United States under dark circumstances, having escaped a forced marriage to a much older man, and marries a good Italian boy. She never has full command of English, especially when questioned by authorities, and when she is suddenly widowed with three young children, she has few options.

Being a parent is a powerful experience, but often we don't anticipate the many ways it will change us. Expectant and new parents will find this book helpful because it examines the real effects children exert on a parent's sense of self, concept of love, personal and work goals, and your family relationships and friendships, and it explores the basis of the deep satisfaction we derive from being a parent - as well as areas that create stress.

In one week, a house and marriage violently disintegrate. Alone raising an infant in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Julie is surrounded by the rubble of her life - stripped bare by love and loss. Suddenly a single mother, Freed's prose captures the love and adoration for her daughter, the indomitable spirit of her New England family and her father's unwavering devotion. Touching ties survive even the most powerful surge Mother Nature delivers.

Your child is getting married! Congratulations! Oh, No, They're Engaged! will help any mother carry off her parental role in planning with dignity and common sense while explaining the execution of a traditional wedding. Included is vital information on advising the couple on emotional decisions, relationship issues, and budget concerns. From controlling expenses to managing the guest list, this handy guide provides all of the information necessary to helping a son or daughter have the wedding of their dreams.

Why life is harder on American families than it's been in decades? This book takes the blame away from moms and puts it where it really belongs. Pressed for time and money, unable to find decent affordable daycare, wracked with guilt at falling short of the mythic supermom ideal-working and non-working American mothers alike have it harder today than they have in decades, and they are worse off than many of their peers around the world. Why? Because they're raising their kids in a family-unfriendly nation.

Sweet, supportive, dependable, selfless. Long before she had children of her own, journalist Carrie Mullins knew how mothers should behave. But how? Where did these expectations come from—and, more importantly, are they serving the mothers whose lives they shape? Carrie's suspicion, later crystallized while raising two small children, was that our culture’s idealization of motherhood was not only painfully limiting but harmful, leaving women to cope with impossible standards—standards rarely created by mothers themselves.