[GJM] Mom's Mad. And She's Organized.

[marguerite hampton]

Co-learner's -

In a world where jobs are dramatically disappearing 
and where population reduction is a necessity, how  
does this fit? 

I'd also like to point out some things not generally 
known with regard to human consciousness, but 
brought out by Dr. Carla Hannaford in "Smart Moves"
and John Chilton Pearce in "The Biology of 
Transcendence".  Recall that Hannaford points out 
in "Smart Moves" that the black children of Lesotho
in South Africa score far higher on tests than do the 
white children in urban areas.  

The reason for this is that the Lesotho children, 
according to Hannaford,are brought up in a "clan tality, 
structure" which provides a "rich sensory environment 
full of sound, touch, smell and visual stimuli with lots of 
room for movement and the abiliity to freely explore one's 
own body in space.  Along with plenty of time and practice 
for pattern recognition -- of sensory motor patterns, language 
patterns, rhythm and music patterns, and human relationship 
patterns"-- all in a natural environment to which one is still 
"connected".  

Note:  This relates to Jay Earley's theory in "Transforming 
Human Culture" that we need to reconnect to the "basic
qualities" inherent at the beginning of our social evolution,
e.g., natural living, community, equality, vitality, and 
belonging.  These are "feminine qualities" which have been
suppressed by the emergence of the more masculine qualities,
e.g., technology, rational thinking and social order (including the
very powerful monetary system in force today which drives 
the rest of our systems.)  
 
Of note also is emphasis on breast-feeding until the 
age of three and carrying the child on the mother's 
back while working in the fields until that age  
so that the "heart-to-heart" rhythm necessary for 
bonding/patterning takes place in a way that creates
socialization naturally and builds in resistance to 
"enforced enculturation" as heart - brain 
entrainment takes place providing for our "inner 
awareness" or "intuitiveness" -- that is, "formation 
of the holographic mind".  
 
This latter information is largely provided by John 
Chilton Pearce in the "Biology of Transcendence" 
and I do urge reading both Hannaford and Pearce 
together so as to gain more of "the whole big picture". 

It seems to me that this information regarding the 
"new biology" and, in particular, with regard to 
neurocardiology, provides lots of clues as to how
to restructure our social systems so as to provide 
optimum environments which encourage 
conscious pursuit by the peaceful path rather 
than by the path of the warrior as we are doing today. 

My point here being that if women are organizing, 
let's ensure that we have viable information with which
to organize around. And, that we also ensure that the
men in our lives get the message as well.  

This is about "integration" and what appears 
is that instead of "going off to work somewhere" 
work needs to be centered within "electronic 
cottages" in small communities as suggested by
Alvin Toffler in "The Third Wave".  And that the 
medium of exchange needs to be "local currency"
for the main part, but combined with a non-usurious
international currency. 

What also appears is that "work" will be largely 
centered around the production of food, care of
children, invalids, the elderly, etc., as the labor-
force continues to be down-sized so that we 
are engaged in "sustainable living enterprises"
such as "bio-mimicry and nano-technology" 
which require little or no human labor.  And, that 
enterprises will be "home-oriented" rather than
corporatized for the most part. 

eco 

Thanks to Paul at Global Net News for this article. 


(To change your settings or unsubscribe please go to 
http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/globalnetnews-summary) 
  
Mom's Mad. And She's Organized. 
  
By KARA JESELLA 
  
February 22, 2007, The New York times 
  
A BABY was passed around like the hors d'oeuvres - in this 
case, bruschetta, a fruit plate - among the 10 mothers who 
crowded into Ann Clark's Sacramento home on a Tuesday night 
this month. No matter if the baby was crying; this was a 
child-friendly crowd. 
  
The mothers all held jobs outside the home (pastry chef, 
singer in a band, lawyer, hairstylist, nanny) and many had 
flexible schedules to make it easier to care for their 
children. Like hundreds of others who have gathered over the 
last nine months, they huddled around a television to view 
'The Motherhood Manifesto,' a documentary about the obstacles 
still facing working mothers, including many of those in the 
room. 
  
'I'm home with a 2-year-old, so there may be an interruption,' 
said Ms. Clark, 35, a social worker with two children and a 
three-day-a-week office job, as she recounted the viewing 
party the next day and talked about how she related to the 
mothers in the movie. Like them, she said, her financial 
situation felt precarious. She wasn't sure she could count on 
keeping her part-time position next fall. 
  
'These are issues I'm aware of and feel strongly about,' she 
said of the movie's focus on subjects like universal child 
care, maternity and paternity leave, and workplace 
discrimination against mothers. That is why she joined 
MomsRising.org, the mother's advocacy organization that made 
the documentary. 'It's a great opportunity to connect with 
friends - mothers - and together have a chance to change 
things,' she said. 
  
For years, mothers have been taking to the Internet to blog or 
post messages about the travails of motherhood, commiserating, 
fuming or laughing about their shared lives. But in the last 
year there has been a marked increase in those who are going 
beyond simply expressing their feelings. In a throwback to 
their mothers' - or was it their grandmothers'? - time, they 
are organizing about family and work issues. 
  
A generation of mothers who are largely perceived as 
postfeminist in every way, from sex to economic 
discrimination, has begun a consciousness-raising that is 
almost old-fashioned were it not for the technology involved. 
Raised to believe that girls could accomplish anything, these 
women have reached parenthood, only to find they faced many of 
the same pay, equity and work-family balance issues that were 
being fought over decades before. From that awakening, they 
say, has come the inkling of a new movement. 
  
In many ways, these groups are repackaging issues that have 
been around for nearly 50 years and have proven intractable 
despite the efforts of legions of activists, lawyers and 
elected officials. 
  
But what MomsRising has done, the organizers say, is frame its 
concerns as family and economic issues, which resonate for a 
younger generation of women. (They say they will include the 
fathers later.) 
  
It is not a coincidence that MomsRising is using the tactics 
of MoveOn.org, the influential liberal organizing site that 
helped propel Howard Dean's presidential candidacy. One of the 
group's founders is Joan Blades, who, with her husband, Wes 
Boyd, founded MoveOn. 
  
MomsRising is the newest and most prominent in a loose 
coalition of advocacy groups, including Mothers & More, the 
Mothers Movement Online, Mothers Ought to Have Equal Rights 
and the National Association of Mothers' Centers, that are 
sharing information, joining together at rallies and signing 
one another's petitions. 
  
They, in turn, are starting to form alliances with labor 
groups and traditional feminist groups like the National 
Organization for Women. And they are communicating with what 
some might see as unlikely allies: traditional family values 
groups like the Christian Coalition. 
  
The various mother's rights groups are concentrating much of 
their effort at state legislatures. In Washington State, they 
met with the speaker of the house about passing a bill that 
would allow employees to be paid if they take family- or 
medical-leave time, and in California, they have proposed 
legislation that would make it illegal to discriminate based 
on family status. Senator Sheila Kuehl has agreed to author 
the bill, which is to be introduced this week. They are also 
hoping to be heard during next year's presidential race. 
  
It's difficult to know just how big the burgeoning movement 
is. MomsRising, which has been around since last May, has 
attracted 80,000 members from around the United States. The 
goal, organizers say, is to build a nonpartisan grass-roots 
movement millions strong. 
  
Seeing Nancy Pelosi swarmed by children moments after being 
sworn in as the first female House speaker gives them hope, 
they said, that they are gaining momentum in a more welcoming 
political atmosphere. 
  
'It was a joyful thing to see the speaker of the House 
surrounded by kids,' Ms. Blades said. 'We thought, ‘Wow, we're 
in the right place at the right time.' We've been waiting for 
this to happen; we're ready for this to happen.' 
  
What have these mothers been waiting for? It is all laid out 
in the MomsRising documentary, which was shown in Washington 
on Sept. 28 to a crowd that included Senator Ted Kennedy and 
presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton (her office 
helped organize the screening), Barack Obama and Christopher 
J. Dodd. 
  
The film opens with one woman telling her friend that she and 
her husband have decided to have a baby. 'Are you clueless?' 
the friend asks. 'Don't you know what happens to mothers in 
America?' One thing the movie makes clear: It isn't good. 
  
Using data and personal stories of mothers who have been 
discriminated against in the workplace, the film emphasizes 
that mothers are less likely to be hired, will make less 
money, and are more scrutinized for wrongdoing than either 
single women or men. The reason it cites: There are not enough 
family-friendly policies in place to help parents. 
  
The seeds for MomsRising were planted in 2004, when Ms. Blades 
read a book about women and politics by Kristin Rowe- 
Finkbeiner, 36, a married mother of two. Ms. Blades, 51, said 
she was astonished to find that many younger women didn't 
identify with feminism and by the data showing vast 
disparities in incomes between mothers and fathers, with 
single mothers faring particularly badly. 
  
'I'd been doing the MoveOn thing for over eight years and I 
thought: ‘I'm an organizer and I wasn't aware of this. I don't 
know how many people are aware of this,' ' she said. 
  
Ms. Blades decided that America's unfair treatment of mothers 
would be the subject for her next book, also called 'The 
Motherhood Manifesto,' and she enlisted Ms. Rowe-Finkbeiner as 
her co-author. From the book came MomsRising, which is mainly 
financed by individual donors and private foundations. 
  
The founders, each of whom has two children, claim that 
MomsRising is so new that they do not have a handle yet on who 
makes up their membership. But in interviews, some members 
said they grew up watching their mothers struggle to balance 
career and family. 
  
And while their mothers agitated to be allowed into the 
workplace, most of these women don't have the luxury of a 
choice. Today, 67 percent of women with children under the age 
of 18 are employed, according to the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics. 
  
Anita Jackson, 29, of Berkley, Calif., who has an infant 
daughter, said MomsRising was 'addressing true family values 
as opposed to ideology; real policies that would help moms and 
dads get to work, pay the bills and have a family life.' 
Particularly important to her, she said, are workplaces with 
flexible schedules and universal health care for children. 
  
Like Ms. Jackson, Ashley Boyd, 36, also from Berkeley, was a 
member of MoveOn. Ms. Boyd, who does not have children but has 
been involved with women's issues, said she first received an 
e-mail message about MomsRising on Mother's Day last year. 'I 
felt like it was expressing the ideas and energy and
excitement I was looking for,' she said. It was she who 
convinced her friend Ms. Clark to hold the documentary viewing 
party in Sacramento. 
  
At many house parties, the issue that has generated the most 
discussion is something that activists call 'maternal 
profiling.' That is using information about a woman's status 
as a parent to make managerial decisions, like whether to hire 
her and how much to pay her. 
  
They are particularly moved by the story of Kiki Peppard, a 
Pennsylvania woman who, 12 years ago, was refused office jobs 
after employers found out she was a single mother of two. Ms. 
Peppard is a rallying point for many women, who are led by the 
film to believe - mistakenly - that such discrimination is 
legal. According to two experts in workplace law, it is not. 
  
But many studies indicate that, legal or not, a woman's status 
as a mother hurts her at work. 
  
In one study, to be published next month in the American 
Journal of Sociology, Cornell researchers sent out résumés and 
cover letters to real employers for hypothetical job 
applicants. All had the same credentials, but the packages 
included subtle cues to indicate that some of the applicants 
were parents. (For example, a résumé might note that an 
applicant was an officer in a parent-teacher association.) 
  
The goal was to find out if employers are less likely to 
pursue an interview if they find out that a candidate is a 
parent, said Shelley Correll, an associate professor of 
sociology at Cornell, who helped conduct the study. And the 
answer was 'yes for mothers, no for fathers.' 
  
For the women who are fired up about workplace inequities, 
there is an easy way to fight back, without even leaving the 
house. 
  
'You get an e-mail to sign a petition,' Ms. Clark said, about 
the ease she had adding her voice to MomsRising, 'and it takes 
five minutes and you're done for the day.' 
  
'For women, I know we want to lead more meaningful lives and 
make a difference, but it's easy to feel overwhelmed,' she 
said. 'But MomsRising makes it feel manageable. Plus, it 
creates a community, which is really fun.' 
  
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company