Continued from here ...

Groups like MomRising, with their documentary film "Motherhood Manifesto", are turning the feeling that women are often discriminated against because they are mothers into a movement of 1960's war-ending, civil-rights-victory proportions.

Their numbers are rising, and house parties arranged as viewing sessions for the film, followed by no little discussion and enthusiasm for action are shaking things up in the world that extends far beyond the playground around the corner.

From their homepage:

"Do you have kids?" "Are you married?" While federal law prohibits employers from asking female job applicants these questions if they don't ask the same questions of men, or to make hiring decisions based on negative stereotypes about mothers...IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME! This is one reason why 22 states explicitly forbid employers from asking job applicants about their marital status.

A New York Times story, "Mom's Mad. And She's Organized", focused on a MomsRising get-together in Sacramento, illustrates the growing strength of the group and was the paper's most e-mailed story.

Mothersmovement.org called the article the beginning of the "pinch me moment" ... a tipping point, so to speak ... as it was closely followed by a flurry of reports on the topic of SAHMs and working mothers, and continues to stir the pot and get the topic boiling over.

"Values Begin at Home, but Who's Home?", "The Opt-Out Revolution Revisited", and "The Care Crisis" are just a few of the in-deapth looks being taken lately at the issue of working mothers, the politics involved, and how the world has been or will be impacted by social policies, gender lines and the push for 'family friendly' changes.

By the way, this is not simply and American issue. This story from Japan gives the results of a survey there that shows 90% of Japanese women with children in school would like to work outside the home, but only 37.4 do. The reasons there, like in the US, are miriad and social and all mired in the fact that only women are mothers.

Although emotions may continue to run high, the "Mommy Wars" are in the end more media hype than personal affronts, and as I said a while back, we're not really fighting ... we're sharing.

If you're a SAHM, check out Lauri's top three tips on the adoptive parenting blog.