Is Being a Stay-at-Home Mom ‘Working?’ (POLL)
Hilary Rosen
Hilary Rosen has stirred up a hornet’s nest, and has reignited a bit of the “mommy wars.”
Rosen, a Democratic strategist, political director and editor-at-large of the HuffingtonPost.com, slammed Ann Romney to CNN’s Anderson Cooper Wednesday for having “never worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that a majority of the women in this country are facing.” Romney, as in Republican presidential hopefully Mitt Romney’s wife, hit back, telling FOX News it was her “career choice was to be a mother” to her five children. Rosen argued that for many women, particularly single moms, they don’t have the choice, financially, to stay home, and that the Romneys have never had to worry about money.
Ann Romney should have been in her house when “those boys caused so much trouble,” she told FOX. Rosen also said Mitt Romney doesnt understanding women and their needs.
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“Now that bothers me,” Romney said, pointing out her husband has surrounded himself with top female advisers at least since his days as Massachusetts governor. ”Hilary needs to know this,” she also said. Women on the campaign trail are “talking about jobs and the legacy of debt they’re leaving their children.”
Ann also wrote her first official Tweet in response, saying: “I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys. Believe me, it was hard work.”
Rosen, a mom of two kids, says this is a political distraction and the bigger issue is whether Mitt Romney is using his wife as a “touchstone for women who are struggling economically.” She says:
“Now let’s be clear on one thing. I have no judgments about women who work outside the home vs. women who work in the home raising a family. I admire women who can stay home and raise their kids full time. I even envy them sometimes. It is a wonderful luxury to have the choice. But let’s stipulate that it is not a choice that most women have in America today. Why does this even matter? It matters purely because Mitt Romney put the issue of his wife’s views squarely on the table.”
Ann Romney
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The back-and-forth is causing a buzz on the Internet; even high-profile Obama supporters and Democratic strategists are denouncing Rosen’s comments:
Joe Trippi: “Hilary Rosen was wrong about Ann Romney & I hope she will say so – I also apologize in advance for my own inevitable on air mistake”
David Axelrod: “Also Disappointed in Hilary Rosen’s comments about Ann Romney. They were inappropriate and offensive.”
First Lady Michelle Obama: “Every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected. –mo”
Daily Beast columnist and Republican Meghan McCain: “Saying Ann Romney “has never worked a day in her life” when she has raised 5 sons is such a sublimely ignorant statement, it’s daunting.”
For moms, deciding to stay home with their kids or go to work is a decision not made lightly – and is often accompanied by feelings of self-doubt, guilt, inadequacy as a mother and/or professional, and a plethora of other feelings that often leave women feeling as if they are lacking.
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Many women opt to stay home to spend more time with their children and choose family over career for a time, while others don’t make enough money at their jobs to make it worth giving up that time with their kids and paying for daycare. Whether you have the financial ability to stay home or not, women still give up their career, aspects of their social life, and other things to raise their children full-time. Just as hard of a decision is one that brings moms back to work after kids, a move often accompanied by tears. Many would love to have the option to stay home with their children, but can’t, whether it be for financial reasons, because it would set back their career to much, or for any number of variety of reasons.
Whatever camp you’re in, know that there are many women in your same boat, and we should all be encouraging each other and lifting each other up.
Take our poll below and let us know if you’re a stay-at-home mom, and why:
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Category: Views on the News
