One reason I love living in DC is we are surrounded by amazing, intelligent and highly motivated women. They are our neighbors, friends and peers. And falling into this category is most definitely Joanne Bamberger, well known nationally as PunditMom and author of the book “Mothers of Intention: How Women and Social Media are Revolutionizing Politics in America,” and one of the founders of TheDCMoms.com. Bamberger gives a voice to the important role women, especially mothers, play in influencing politics and our children, while shining the spotlight on the dearth of female pundits speaking out on cable news shows and in the leading newspapers around the country. Beyond blogging as Pundit Mom and authoring a book, Bamberger is currently a nominee for the 2011 Women’s Media Center Social Media Awards, launched a new women, politics and issue-based web site called The Broad Side and is hosting an online political talk show with iVillage’s Chief Correspondent Kelly Wallace.
As we immerse ourselves in the year-long fight towards the next presidential election, who better to talk with, than Bamberger? Her book raises important questions like: Do you think there is an unspoken bias against young mothers in the media, in the workplace, in politics? Do you recoil when female political candidates are asked who’s taking care of the kids? Are you socially active online? Do you talk to your kids about politics, the elections or voting? Odds are you answered in the affirmative at least once in the above questions and if so, her book is for you.
Frankly, I devoured her book in anticipation of our interview and felt I could have peppered her with questions endlessly for hours. Her book is ripe with hot topics, issues of interest to mothers across the political spectrum and loaded with fascinating research and insight into the importance of mothers in the political process and influencing our children and change online. With that, let’s get to it:
Joanne Bamberger: Sure. Kristen Chase is a classic and wonderful example of a woman online who has not historically been politically active. Then she became a mother and issues started resonating with her in a way that they just hadn’t before. Facebook apparently didn’t ban images that groups who are pro-anorexic were posting but they banned images of women breastfeeding their kids. Kristen knows how to reach moms of young kids and used her savvy to get mothers involved politically and influence change. Facebook did change their terms of service. I think what’s important to note is that this is an example of how being political and being an activist online means something different to everyone. You don’t have to tackle candidates and their issues, specifically, to be politically active. I think an example of an interesting issue that is really bubbling right now and moms are actively engaging is the discussion of McDonald’s and their recent decision to shrink the size of fries in Happy Meals and include apple slices in the meals. Of course, many people question whether government should even be involved in personal decisions like what we feed our kids, but this is a fun one to track.
WM: That is an excellent point and one that I haven’t even considered yet. My oldest will be old enough to ask slightly more sophisticated questions in the next campaign — and I’ve been stumped by the basic “How did I get out of your tummy” question — so without some careful advance thought — I don’t know that I could coherently answer the “Republican or Democrat” question in meaningful terms to her. This is really helpful in terms of preparing to talk with our kids before the next election. So let’s move to the chapter I am most anxious to discuss with you – the “Who’s Raising the Kids” chapter. I, for one, attacked Sarah Palin on my blog during the ’08 campaign over this question. On one hand, I think that women are quick to talk about how motherhood is a job – in and of itself – and how we take on more work than men and our husbands – so if we bill motherhood as a job – then is it totally fair for us to say it’s unfair and sexist to ask women, whether they are politicians or not — these questions about who’s handling the responsibilities when there are kids at home?
JB: I think if we ask all the politicians this question, then it’s not sexist. But we don’t. For example, when Debbie Wasserman Schultz was named head of the DNC, there was a big article in the New York Times and the picture of her that accompanied the piece was her in a pink sweat suit and the first paragraph was about her being a wife, mother, lunch packer, Congresswoman and political fundraiser. Contrast this to when Tim Kaine was named head of the DNC, there was a photograph in the New York Times of him with the President. He’s also a father of three young kids but it wasn’t even noted. So, why don’t we ask that question of all candidates who have small children? I really think this is more of a media coverage issue and the media are so stuck on this story of women with young kids because it’s an easy story to write. Personality driven politics are always the easiest to write about. Nobody raised the question to Obama when he was running and he has elementary aged kids. It is still unspoken that it’s the mom’s responsibility to worry about the kids. And we have to look at how the rest of us are writing about it as well. Do we fall into the same analysis, ultimately questioning if these powerful women should be political because they have young kids? I think there is an undercurrent of bias against moms with young kids, not just in politics. Certainly many women have experienced it in their work – questioning their commitment and time abilities because they have young kids at home and the moms are responsible for the main portion of care giving.
WM: I’m thinking this discussion of a bias against mothers with young children is worthy of multiple blog topics and discussions. And one I’ll certainly be more careful about discussing as this next campaign heats up. I eagerly read your research showing that even such progressive outlets like NPR found a serious lack of women’s voices in their own reporting, let alone the lack of female op-ed columnists. What is your advice to other women — what should/can we do to help change this?
JB: There are two schools of thought on this — one is to increase the number of women who submit op-ed type pieces to traditional outlets (since one of the reasons fewer women are published is that fewer women submit) and make ourselves more available to those seeking out commentators, and the other is to build our own outlets for commentary and expertise. While some fear that we then create our own women’s “ghettos,” where our writing and opinions can be further dismissed, I think we need to go at it from all angles. That’s why I’m starting a new group site for women’s commentary called The Broad Side. I think we just need to overcome our fear of feeling like we need to be complete experts in a field before we put our opinions out there, and realize that we already have much more expertise on so many topics than we give ourselves credit for.
WM: Now, let’s switch gears and talk about publishing. I think it’s amazing that you’ve published a book — let alone a book on such an important and serious topic. Tell us – what do you know now that you wish you’d known then — about writing a book and getting it published? I, certainly, am guilty of having probably overly romanticized notions about the process.
JB: Oh, where to start! I was very lucky. I was just starting the process of trying to find an agent (I still don’t have one — anyone?) when I was introduced to the publisher Bright Sky Press. They were immediately interested in the project, so I was able to skip one step many authors must go through. Having said that, in light of just how hard it is to get a book published traditionally today (as opposed to e-books or self-publishing), the most important thing to do is network. Find out what contacts your friends and family might have who could make an introduction. Have you met anyone in the publishing business at a professional or blogging conference?
And as for the topic, this isn’t new advice but it is important — make sure the topic you pick is one you LOVE and can stick with for a couple of years, because things will move much more slowly than you think and you have to stay excited and engaged with the project to make it happen.
Thank you to Ms. Bamberger for her time today and for such a lively discussion. I appreciate the insight she’s given us and some of the important things, at least I am left, to consider, both with how I talk about women in politics and how I talk with my girls about politics. I urge you to buy her book, not just because it’s loaded with great content and essays from other women bloggers covering the political spectrum, but to support this local mom and popular local blogger.
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