Mobilizing Moms

Everyone from students to workers to anti tax-evasion protesters have taken to England’s streets in recent weeks. And yesterday, British mums stormed Whitehall.... or so my day dream went.

Monday saw the High Court in London throw out a legal challenge brought by the UK’s leading gender equality campaign, the Fawcett society, against the Coalition Government over its 2010 ‘austerity’ budget. Fawcett’s analysis showed that $5.7 billion worth of cuts, out of a total $8.1 billion cuts, are directed at women - yet the Government had neglected to meet its legal obligation to conduct an equalities impact assessment which would have exposed this and potentially prevented it from happening.  The case was kicked out on grounds the point was “unarguable - or academic”.

The idea that these events would prove a tipping point for women is surely not so far fetched.  But in the end, there was no revolt; the day ended on more of a whimper. The protest outside didn’t attract more than a hand-full, despite the backing of a number of prominent female MPs and Fawcett’s best efforts to rally the troops on Twitter. All trudged back onto the tube at the end of the day, in time to make the tea.

Would the story have been the same if this had happened in the US?  My reckoning is: probably not.

As regular readers know from previous blogposts, when it comes to election politics, I don’t believe that America's political parties have a great amount to teach the UK on representing women’s political issues.  The narrative that emerged in the mid-terms campaign this year was indistinct at best, and at worst negative.

But look beyond electoral politics and you’ll find a strong, strategic popular American women’s movement, and specifically a ‘moms’ movement, the likes of which I don’t see paralleled in the UK.  

Since 2006 the organisation Momsrising.org has provided a cogent voice for women, spearheading campaigns across the country.  Their manifesto is primarily about achieving family economic security and wellbeing and the issues they work on include: paid parental leave; health insurance; quality, affordable preschool and after school programs; flexible workplaces; fair wages and ending salary and hiring discrimination based family responsibilities.  And their results are not to be sniffed at: they count US’s Fair Pay Act and legislation to eliminate toxic toys amongst their achievements, and also played a crucial part in supporting the Health Reform Bill. 

The key to Momsrising's success is that they are not a traditional lobby group.  They are a virtual organisation, headed up by a handful of volunteers and paid staff who live in different places across the country, meeting up in person every 6-12 months for staff retreats. Like Fawcett they run excellent, professional campaigns, disseminating information to the public and issuing press releases.  But like Mumsnet they encourage members to join online for free and actively participate in debate - albeit in a more tightly administered blog format rather than free-for-all chat-rooms.  

This approach has enabled them to build support and connections at grass roots level, going further than Fawcett or Mumsnet and actually mobilising millions of busy moms.  They interact with members of the community frequently, providing them with the tools to become advocates for their own cause.  Join their mailing list and you will be supported to make timely representations yourself - email updates keep you instantly informed about all relevant votes and policy decisions taking place, as well as details of the political representatives and law-makers you should contact - whether by phone, letter or email.  Public rallies is not a central campaign tactic (most moms would struggle...) but, as a result of their mass membership, they have also proven to be able to summons a fearsome mom-crowed at very short notice when needed.   

In the wake of yesterday’s decision at the High Court, the women’s movement in the UK must take stock of its future.  If we can build a mass movement with clear policy mandate and an effective strategy we could come out fighting yet. America's Momsrising is a model to aspire too.

I like to be in America

It looks as if this week’s storm in a teacup may be blowing over. Obama’s call for tolerance following the mad Pastor’s Koran burning threat has not even featured on Fox News’ politics site and CNN have done a brilliant job reassuring us that the American melting pot is a happy love-in with a story about two guys on a road trip “Ali and Tariq were embraced nearly everywhere they went, from a Confederate souvenir shop in Georgia to the streets of Las Vegas, Nevada, to the hills of North Dakota” ...

Here in Campusville the locals certainly do their bit to reach out across cultural boundaries, making us feel very welcome despite our eccentric Anglo-ways. Advice and invitations abound from fellow parents, whether its Pamela in the playground, Janey in the bookshop and Christie in the coffee shop. The grocery store’s exotic international aisle even has a UK shelf baring marmite, Tetley teabags, baked beans and Ready Brek (don’t it make you proud).

In return, we’ve done our best to get on and fit in. I’ve got face ache and exhaustion from my efforts to be smilier, earlier and cleaner than comes naturally. And when our new friends tell us proudly that there’s a sing-along at the toy-store, a new-mom meet-up in Starbucks or baby yoga at the expensive gym in the next town I resist the temptation to boast about England's Children's Centres. Would the moms and dads here be envious if they knew? You don’t miss what you never had I guess. And thanks to their confident networking abilities and strong spending power, America’s ‘big society’ seems to be thriving all by itself in this middle class town.

Blueberry jam storm

Its been two days of blistering heat since we stepped off the plane, and now we’re preparing for a hurricane... Earl is on his way.  While this part of the Eastern Seaboard is not predicted to meet the eye of the storm, the weather men are saying the city could take some thrashing tonight.  The Mayor has declared a state of emergency and Liz our landlady, who while not landladying is being a leading academic authority on the art of writing a steamy novel, is coming round to help us secure the rickety windows of our clapboard house and clear the portch.


Meanwhile the Moms of Campusville have other things on their minds.  How do I know? There's nothing more that these people love than connectivity, so being a newby is no obstacle to getting the inside track. 1500 local moms have now collectivised through Yahoo messaging group which exchanges as many messages a month with numbers fast growing.  Exchanges are lively and cover everything from public breastfeeding rights to dealing with dads who give too many desserts.  Yet Campusville.com moms have not had time to worry about the storm. The preoccupation of the day has been a dramatic collision between Percy, friend of Thomas (the Tank Engine), and a parcel he is carrying which culminated in blueberry jam, with a distinctly bloody appearance, being spilt on the tracks. Should our children be exposed to this level of violence the moms wonder? There is concern that the “dynamics between the engines are surely sometimes less than kind”. Should I take this as the first bit of evidence that far from their liberal reputation East Coast moms are protective beyond belief?  Or that behind the facade lies an old fashioned, conservative soul, which only bares itself when it comes to deeply personal matters such as parenting? Perhaps I'm reading too much into it.  Perhaps the heat, or the blueberry jam, has just gone to their heads. Time will tell...