MW Voice FEATURE

Letters to the  Editor

War

Moms Start Up Weekly Paper 

Another group of low-Income moms has started writing and running their own newspaper! Tribal women in northern India and Dalit women (so-called “Untouchables”) named their new weekly publication “News Waves” --Khabar Lahariya.  

This is India’s first paper by Tribal or Dalit women. They do all writing, layout and distribution themselves. They lug copies to distant villages to provide a voice to silenced women.  

“We takes buses, cars, motorcycles until the road stops. Then we walk,” said Meera, 23. 

Like MWV, News Wavess

(UN Women’s Report Network.) 

Mothers Support Mothers with Baby Cafes

The Baby Café concept originated in 2000 in London, England. They were created to meet the needs of mothers who are often ostracized, segregated or discriminated against when they breastfeed in public.  

A Baby Café is a fun, casual environment. Any pregnant or breastfeeding mother may access peer and professional support--or just stop by for a coffee or tea. Now there are over 130 Baby Cafes in the UK alone. They’re free and open several times a week, with no appointment needed. 

In the US there are only two Baby Cafes—in Melrose, Massachusetts and in El Paso Texas. The moms at the El Paso Baby Café formed a community advisory committee, and raised money for a part-time salary for a lactation educator, furniture and rent. They worked with the landlord to bring the old building up to code. Women came in on nights and weekends with children and grandchildren to paint and assemble shelves. 

On Oct. 9, 2008 they opened their doors. In the first two hours, over 20 moms arrived with their babies. By the end of the month there were 75 moms. The Texas health Department offered a 20-hour course at the Baby Café. The moms who completed the course are now certified breastfeeding peer counselors. 

Baby Café regulars have begun a campaign to convince local restaurants to post signs on their doors saying “breastfeeding welcome here.”

Northern Ireland Is Messing with the Mamas 

There are only eight freee day cares for every 1000 children under age four in Northern Ireland. Prime Minister Gordon Brown

Patricia Haren, Director of Women’s Support Network said, “The acute lack of affordable and flexible childcare in Northern Ireland is being felt most by single mothers on low incomes and women living in rural areas. Scrapping the current system will force them out of education, training and paid employment. This proposal is a direct threat to women’s livelihood. It will lead to increased child poverty. And it will have a disproportionately negative impact on the Northern Ireland economy.”

Hostel or Hostile? 

In 2008, almost 45,000 babies were born to British girls aged 19 and under. 2000 teenage moms apply for public housing each year. 

Opponents claim that these girls perceive children as meal-tickets to free housing. They overlook the fact that many of them have little support from friends, family and partners. 

Prime Minister Gordon Brown now wants to force all 16- and 17-year-old moms receiving benefits into supervised hostels. He claims this would instill a sense of responsibility in teenage parents and teach them how to raise their children ‘properly’.  

This is just another attack on moms from economically poor backgrounds who become pregnant at a young age. 

There are examples of hostels that actually help young moms. The Foyer Federation has 130 homes in England. Their objective is to get the young women on their own feet, at their own pace. The process must have the mom’s consent and willing involvement.  

Over two-thirds of the 10,000 moms helped go on to have a ‘positive outcome’ in housing and employment. Many moms return to school, after getting help completing university applications. 

What is really needed is a shift in attitudes to motherhood, childcare and asking for help when one needs to.  Putting an end to the idea that pregnancy and the resulting child as a ‘mistake’ is the first step. Continuing to treat unmarried teenage mothers as ‘fallen women’ is doing nobody any favors.

Marian Duggan

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Three Generations are Better Than Two 

Single mothers and their children living in three-generation households face significantly less poverty than other single mom families.

2.5 million children are part of single-mother families that include one or more grandparents. The presence of just one grandparent reduces the odds of living below the poverty line by 80%.  

In the US, the average income of a family with two grandparents living in the home is $63,635. This is over twice the average income of a single-mother family: $27,619.

(Study by the University of Southern California and the University of Massachusetts-Boston)

Sources: Mothering ~ Women’s News ~ Rain and Thunder