Motherhood in an Election Year

I wanted to try to stay informed from both sides of the aisle with the conventions going on the past two weeks. I cheered for Bill Clinton's speech. But I wanted to see what the other side had to offer as well. The following bits are not verbatim, but near to it from Ann Romney's speech:

"There isn't a woman in America who expects her life to be easy and men just don't understand that....and we don't want easy."

"If we all listened at night, and heard the collective sigh, the women would sigh just a little bit louder because that's just how it is."

*twitch*

Even as I loved Michelle Obama's speech (Michelle/Hillary 2016 FTW), she ends it with saying her true title is Mom-in-Chief. What about women who don't want to be mothers? What about single parents? What about blended families with step children? What about queer families, with two moms or two dads? Where is the discussion about those issues?

And how about us not just accepting "that's the way it is" for women who are also mothers having a rough go of it? How about we find ways to solve the problems that mothers and fathers and families face? Radical idea, I realize.

Just because women can become pregnant and be a mother does not mean all of them will. A fact that the CDC might want to pay attention to, before it starts spouting off at the mouth. Granted, this article is from 2006 but the idea still remains true. This whole brood mare mentality is really beginning to grate on my nerves. Renee, over at Womanist Musings, touches on this a bit with one of her latest posts.

I plan on having children at some point and am excited about it. But it's not happening this month or the next. But the fact that I've been married for two + years and no rugrats in sight means I'm doing it wrong, according to my in-laws. What if I didn't want to have children? A completely legitimate option, but one that is not afforded the same respect as having children. Women who do not want children are told that they will change their minds, that they will want to provide their families with grandchildren.

Moms and dads and all types of caregivers are important. Some women choose to stay home, some dads do or they work out some combination of options. And if you believe the best course of action for your life is to be a mom and stay at home to raise them, more power to you! However, you don't need to legislate how I will run my life because that's my choice. Just as living your life is yours.