Motherhood is one hot topic. From magazine covers that pushed people’s buttons to daily headlines on both news and gossip sites, moms were praised, targeted, and questioned.
While most headlines were pure click bait, some were actually attached to insightful, thought-provoking pieces. As we head into 2013, let’s take a look back at the good, the meh, and the ugly when it came to motherhood in mainstream headlines from 2012: Keep reading »
I’m going to propose something that may seem radical, given the hysteria that single motherhood seems to conjure in American society. The typical single mother? She doesn’t exist.
As a solo-parenting mother (which is different than a single parent — this is a nuanced “issue” my friends!), I’ve searched high and low to find out if a significant portion of single moms are representative of the stereotype that politicians, moralizing religious groups, and census statistics tell me are single (puns!) handedly causing a rise in childhood poverty. All I’ve managed to find is a group of people as diverse as our married counterparts. Keep reading »
Like an episode of “Wife Swap” with feminist underpinnings and adorable accents, an Irish politician plans to swap lives for a week with a single mother of three.
Senator John Gilroy from County Cork in Ireland will live trade lives with Andrea Gagley, an activist with Single Parents Acting For The Rights Of Kids. Gagley works a part-time job and takes a college course while raising her three sons on her own. She issued the challenge to politicians on the Facebook page for Ireland’s Labour Party and Gilroy, a married father of two, took her up on it. He will live on her salary for a week while working at her part-time job and collecting her Lone Parent Allowance and Child Benefit Allowance (which I assume are Irish versions of welfare). ”He is in for a very harsh landing. He may work long hours but he has back-up at home to facilitate that, whereas I have to do everything myself,” Gagley said. The Irish Herald reports that several production companies are seeking to make a documentary about Gilroy and Gagley’s “life swap.” Keep reading »
Hallmark Mahogany, a line targeted toward blacks, made greeting cards this Father’s Day for black single mothers. Bossip points us to the controversy, which pits the recognition of mamas who do both the mommy and the daddy job against the assumption that its perpetuating a stereotype. Personally, I don’t find the card pictured, which reads “For all the times you’ve been there for others, you deserve a day just for you,” the least bit offensive. Keep reading »
Opting to go it alone is a trend in Hollywood, as stars like January Jones, Sandra Bullock, Minnie Driver, Sheryl Crow and Padma Lakshmi have decided to forego the first comes marriage adage and start families on their own. Hats off to these women for forging their singular futures and having the guts to take matters into their own hands without a Prince Charming in the picture.
But do these Hollywood moms, who have millions of dollars, a full staff and unlimited time off make single motherhood look altogether too easy? Could they influence fans to make a similar decision without the resources to back it up? Read more… Keep reading »
