TORONTO, April 30, 2003 -- "Mothering and Work/Mothering as Work" is a conference being held at York University, May 2 - 4, which will examine the tradeoffs made by women with children in balancing the demands of work and motherhood as well as the work women do as mothers.
The conference, organized by York's Association for Research on Mothering (ARM) in association with York's Centre for Research on Work and Society, will further examine the notion that stay-at-home mothers are also 'working' mothers, and examine the public policy, economic and attitudinal obstacles they encounter.
The keynote address (scheduled for Friday, May 2, 7 p.m., in the Harry Crowe Room, 109 Atkinson Bldg.) will be given by Ann Crittenden, an award-winning journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World Is Still the Least Valued (2001).
"Women with children are limited in their ability to integrate the roles of child rearing and paid work by laws and policies that do little to support mothering," says conference organizer and ARM director Prof. Andrea O'Reilly. "We need to recognize and count mothering as work, through strategies as diverse as homemaking being included in the census, including motherwork in the GNP, establishing a pension plan for mothers, and paying women for the work of motherhood through changes in tax laws."
O'Reilly adds that government and workplace initiatives such as extended maternity leave, increased childcare, flextime, and increased and different types of family leave, including new programs to involve fathers in the work of child rearing, are also needed.
Scholars in the field of work and mothering, including York professors Meg Luxton, Nancy Mandell, and Norene Pupo, as well as others from across Canada, the United States and abroad, will discuss topics such as marginalized mothers (mothers on social assistance, single, young and immigrant mothers), professional and academic mothers, pregnancy and the workplace, mothers who are artists, combining mothering and paid work, and mothering and community activism.
The conference will take place in York University’s Atkinson College, located at 4700 Keele St. For the conference agenda, including a complete list of conference presenters and papers, visit: www.yorku.ca/crm.
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For further information, please contact:
| Prof. Andrea O'Reilly | Cheryl Dobinson | Ken Turriff |
| Director, ARM | ARM | Media Relations |
| York University | York University | York University |
| 416-736-2100, ext. 60366 | 416-736-2100, ext. 60366 | 416-736-2100, ext. 22086 |
| aoreilly@yorku.ca | cjdobins@yorku.ca | kturriff@yorku.ca |
YU/043/03
