Every month we’ll round up the latest articles on motherhood-related news we don’t want you to miss. We know how busy you are, so let us help keep you in the know!
Why remote work does not have to harm parents’ careers
Most Americans can’t work remotely, but for those who can, some find that remote work allows them to better balance their personal and work lives. But as some workers begin returning to the office while their colleagues, especially those with a caregiving role, continue to work remotely, there’s a concern that those working from home will miss out on opportunities. Without the face-to-face time in the office, parents (in particular, mothers) could be penalized by missing out on the direct interaction and one-on-one time that helps so much with career advancement. In her article for The New York Times, Jessica Grose points out that this doesn’t have to be the case. As we enter this new phase, employers have the opportunity to change the culture and to better support and include remote workers.
What happens when pandemic funding for childcare disappears?
In March 2021, the American Relief Act was passed, allocating $39 billion in childcare relief to states and childcare providers. A primary goal of the funding was to stabilize the American childcare industry, and it was more funding than the federal government had spent on the industry in the previous five years combined. The American childcare industry has major challenges, including many parents paying a large portion of their income for care, while at the same time most providers are barely able to pay their staff minimum wage. In the early days of the pandemic, many childcare providers shut down or closed permanently, and many staff lost their jobs. This article from The 19th explores how the federal funding allowed many states and providers to increase staff pay, improve facilities, and lower costs and expand support for many families, but when the funding runs out at some point in the future, many fear the childcare crisis will be right back where it started.
The liberation of being pregnant on Zoom
In an office, it can be very hard for some pregnant women to hide their pregnancies or even just keep the topic from constantly coming up in conversations with coworkers, clients, and others. In her article for The New York Times, Sarah Kessler explores how being pregnant while working remotely completely changes the experience for many women. They can choose when and how to share their news, and they can avoid much of the different treatment that pregnant women experience in the workplace, including well-intentioned but often unwanted assistance, lightening of workloads, and exclusion from tasks once their pregnancies are revealed.
Why are pregnancy terms so demeaning?
When she was pregnant with her son, writer Aileen Weintraub was diagnosed with an “incompetent cervix.” She immediately thought, “Did I somehow cause this?” In her recent essay, Weintraub explores the plethora of negative and demeaning pregnancy and women’s health terms, like “hostile uterus,” “barren,” and “depressed vagina,” and how this negative and offensive language can affect women. So many of these medical terms imply fault or shame, and many women who struggle to get pregnant or who have high-risk pregnancies are left feeling like they are at fault for a medical condition or complication they did not cause, many of which are also exceedingly common. Weintraub, who is the author of the memoir Knocked Down: A High-Risk Memoir about her high-risk pregnancy experience, wants other women to know they are not alone and that they can advocate for changes to make demeaning medical terms more factual and educational, as is so commonly the case for men.