By Heba Said/reporter
In 60 minutes March 9, The Motherhood Manifesto showed South students the hardships mothers in America face daily.
Narrated by actress Mary Steenburgeen, the 2006 documentary was part of the South Campus Women’s History Month celebration.
“Mothers are one-half as likely to be given a job, and mothers make around $11,000 less in salary for the same jobs,” the documentary said.
In 1960, 70 percent of households had one breadwinner and one stay-at-home parent, the documentary reported. Today, 70 percent of households are two-breadwinner families. In the United States, one in seven women receive paid childbirth leave while in the Czech Republic, women receive up to two years paid childbirth leave.
These are only a few of the problems the documentary addresses. It suggests five solutions to these problems, from flexible scheduling to paid family leave.
The Motherhood Manifesto shows that the United States is behind every other country in the world, only up to par with Papua New Guinea and Swaziland with its maternal care. The Motherhood Manifesto says that, on average, up to 40,000 U.S. kindergartners are home alone every day and 9 million U.S. children have no insurance.
The Motherhood Manifesto lists problems mothers in America face, supports each with evidence and then provides feasible solutions to each. Among the steps to correct these problems is writing to one’s own senators, and the film provides a means of doing so.
