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What the appointment of Kirsten Gillibrand means to me
1/23/2009
By Anne Moses, Emerge America COO
I met Kirsten Gillibrand when she ran for the House in 2006. She was a relatively unknown attorney running for Congressman John Sweeney's seat. Sweeney was a reliable footsoldier in the Bush Administration. He led the fight against the environment, stem cell research, abortion rights and led the fight for social security privatization, tax cuts for the wealthy, and myriad other conservative issues. And because he was outraged that an upstart woman like Gillibrand was challenging him in a district he viewed as his, he ran a smear campaign against Gillibrand that lambasted her, for among other things, being a working mother. How, Sweeney mused on the campaign trail, could a mother of young child possibly handle the demands of Congress and the demands of parenting?
Gillibrand won that election and in late 2007 announced her second pregnancy, which also received outcries from members of her constituency: "Ms. Gillibrand was elected to serve her constituency, and while she is away from her elected office she cannot perform those duties. The taxpayers who were duped into voting for her will have to pay for her ... excellent health benefits, courtesy of her constituents. We will be without representation in Congress for a time leading up to and following the child's birth. There will be times when she and the new baby will visit doctors. You can add those days to the total that she will not be serving her constituents... I wonder if Ms. Gillibrand will do the right thing and reimburse the U.S. Treasury in the amount of $452.60, her daily salary, for each day that she is unable to perform her elected duties?"
Approximately 72% of mothers with kids under 18 work -- some because they choose to, some because they have to, and many for both reasons. Call it selfish, but I want someone in Congress who has had to balance the same challenges I do -- parenting, work crises, child care, wanting to do something positive for the world. As a working mother -- and one worked throughout her pregnancies and even while on maternity leave-- I am thrilled to see Kirsten Gillibrand being considered for Clinton's U.S. Senate seat! I am equally thrilled that she has so handily disproved the sexism implicit in comments deriding her abilities to work and parent at the same time.
Gillibrand has proved that women gestate with their bodies, not their brains, and that childbearing is not incommensurate with ambition and intelligence and productivity. I want to see more young mothers in office -- especially women like Kirsten who understand what it is like to balance family and work, and whose experiences as working mothers inform their work and the legislation they put forth.
Anne Moses is Chief Operating Officer at Emerge America and is an Emerge California Class of 2005 graduate.
I met Kirsten Gillibrand when she ran for the House in 2006. She was a relatively unknown attorney running for Congressman John Sweeney's seat. Sweeney was a reliable footsoldier in the Bush Administration. He led the fight against the environment, stem cell research, abortion rights and led the fight for social security privatization, tax cuts for the wealthy, and myriad other conservative issues. And because he was outraged that an upstart woman like Gillibrand was challenging him in a district he viewed as his, he ran a smear campaign against Gillibrand that lambasted her, for among other things, being a working mother. How, Sweeney mused on the campaign trail, could a mother of young child possibly handle the demands of Congress and the demands of parenting?
Gillibrand won that election and in late 2007 announced her second pregnancy, which also received outcries from members of her constituency: "Ms. Gillibrand was elected to serve her constituency, and while she is away from her elected office she cannot perform those duties. The taxpayers who were duped into voting for her will have to pay for her ... excellent health benefits, courtesy of her constituents. We will be without representation in Congress for a time leading up to and following the child's birth. There will be times when she and the new baby will visit doctors. You can add those days to the total that she will not be serving her constituents... I wonder if Ms. Gillibrand will do the right thing and reimburse the U.S. Treasury in the amount of $452.60, her daily salary, for each day that she is unable to perform her elected duties?"
Approximately 72% of mothers with kids under 18 work -- some because they choose to, some because they have to, and many for both reasons. Call it selfish, but I want someone in Congress who has had to balance the same challenges I do -- parenting, work crises, child care, wanting to do something positive for the world. As a working mother -- and one worked throughout her pregnancies and even while on maternity leave-- I am thrilled to see Kirsten Gillibrand being considered for Clinton's U.S. Senate seat! I am equally thrilled that she has so handily disproved the sexism implicit in comments deriding her abilities to work and parent at the same time.
Gillibrand has proved that women gestate with their bodies, not their brains, and that childbearing is not incommensurate with ambition and intelligence and productivity. I want to see more young mothers in office -- especially women like Kirsten who understand what it is like to balance family and work, and whose experiences as working mothers inform their work and the legislation they put forth.
Anne Moses is Chief Operating Officer at Emerge America and is an Emerge California Class of 2005 graduate.
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