Twenty-one days to Election Day, the eve of the final presidential debate, and once again I felt like I was choosing between being a bad mom or a bad reporter. It was a pivotal moment at the end of tumultuous campaign. There were stories to write.
Tag: Motherhood
Ivanka Trump Says a Woman’s Most Important Job is Being a Mother
As the Trump train hums steadily along, the one family member who stood even the slightest chance of appearing normal has fallen prey to Trumpian antics again. In a campaign video for Trump’s alleged plan for paid maternity leave (not paid family leave, mind you), daughter Ivanka begins by asserting, “The most important job any woman can have is being a mother.”
A Mother for President: How Democrats are Changing the Way Motherhood is Linked to Presidential Power
Rachel VanSickle-Ward and Jill Greenlee, US News and World Report – August 5, 2016
A century ago, motherhood was frequently invoked to argue against giving women the right to vote in the United States. If women entered the political arena, it was claimed, they would abandon their natural duty to their children, with disastrous consequences for everyone involved. Last week, at the Democratic National Convention, motherhood was presented as a central plank in the effort to convince Americans to elect our first woman president.
Mothers of Black Victims Emerge as a Force for Hillary Clinton
Amy Chozick, New York Times – April 13, 2016
The Clinton campaign named this sisterhood forged in the shared loss of a child the “Mothers of the Movement,” and they have become an unlikely linchpin of Mrs. Clinton’s success in the Democratic primary. At campaign stops, Mrs. Clinton introduces them as “a group of mothers who belong to a club no one ever wants to join.” The mothers will arrive in New York this week to help Mrs. Clinton compete for the April 19 primary.
Can Motherhood Help Hillary Clinton Win the Presidency?
John Sides, The Washington Post – October 21, 2015
I reached out to Jill Greenlee, a political scientist at Brandeis University and the author of “The Political Consequences of Motherhood.” (I previously discussed her research here). Along with Grace Deason and Carrie Langner, she wrote recent article “Mothers on the campaign trail: implications of Politicized Motherhood for women in politics.” In this article, they review academic literature on gender, motherhood, and politics and discuss hypotheses about the possible implications of “politicized motherhood” for political candidates. Greenlee kindly answered some questions via e-mail.