Feminists' Surprising Allies

"I read it in the Times": In a letter to the editor, LERA member and University of Illinois assistant professor of labor studies Emily E. LaBarbera Twarog wrote a letter to the editor in response to a May 13 New York Times review by Judith Warner in which Warner said “the culture of work” as well as “the culture of motherhood” must change “for the promise of the women’s movement to bear full fruit.” LaBarbera Twarog wrote that feminists seeking family-friendly policies sometimes have to align themselves with seemingly unnatural allies. “… This is not a new proposition,” she wrote. “The little-known ‘movement of housewives’ during the New Deal did precisely this. Campaigns aimed at access to subsidized child care for working mothers, equal pay and seniority rights for women workers, and cost-of-living controls prompted working-class housewives to collaborate with diverse allies. …” Click here to read LeBarbera Twarog's letter, the second in the section. LeBarbera Twarog is currently working on a book that examines the relationship between domestic politics and class in the lives of working-class women in the United States. She also writes an "All Things Mothering" blog on mothering and work.

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