Today’s New York Times has a cover story about women politicians and the politics of motherhood.
As a woman, a wife, a mother, a step-grandmother of four, and the editor of a political weekly, I have strong yet conflicted feelings about this charged subject. Earlier this month, in my Editor’s Cut blog, I tried to sort out my conflicted feelings about this very subject–provoked by Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s use of motherhood and its images on her first day in office.
In that piece, I admitted that I was still sorting out my thoughts and asked readers what they thought. Their responses reflected a a wide range of opinion on an issue that resonates on many levels. But in today’s media, there’s not much space for nuance or for conflicted feelings about that trifecta of subjects: politics, women and motherhood. And when I read what the Times article chose to quote, it seemed like it was slotting me into a category–not trying to explore the nuances of this large subject.
For anyone who understands that there’s no right answer, no single or easy way when it comes to being a woman in public life, please read my full blog post, Pelosi: Mother, Grandmother, Speaker –and the many fascinating reader responses–about the politics of motherhood.
