Muckraking Mom Profile: Joan Blades

by: Nancy Watzman

Wed Aug 23, 2006 at 10:33:53 AM MDT

You are most well known as the co-founder of Move On. Why did you decide a separate organization was needed focusing on moms?

Move On is focused on front page issues. MomsRising is focused on issues concerning mothers. I became aware around 2003 that mothers had a huge bias against them in work. I thought, oh, men and women are paid something roughly equally, probably still a little less for women. But when I read the figure that mothers make 27 percent less than men, I said, wait a minute. When I saw the figure that single mothers make 34 to 44 percent less—well, that puts you in poverty. Yet I was unaware of this and I believe it never occurs to most Americans what huge discrimination there is against mothers. There was a Cornell study that came out last year, where two completely equivalent resumes of women were sent out, and the mother was 44 percent less likely to be offered a job and were offered $11,000 less for the same job, with the same qualification. This brings home why there are so few women in leadership. I argue very strongly that we need women in leadership and specifically, we need mothers.

Muckraking Mom profile: Donna Fern Edwards

by: Nancy Watzman

Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 09:20:24 AM MDT

Matt Stoller of MyDD writes about Donna Edwards' campaign for Congress in Maryland, comparing it to the Lamont v. Lieberman battle in Connecticut. He also links to Muckraking Mom's interview of Edwards. Edwards earned the endorsement of The Washington Post today. - promoted by Nancy Watzman)

When Donna Fern Edwards announced she was taking on seven-term incumbent Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD) in the Democratic primary for Maryland’s 4th Congressional District, a buzz started in the blogosphere. It’s a rare thing indeed when some one mounts a serious primary challenge to a lawmaker who has served so long in Congress.

Edwards, who is centering her campaign on opposition to the war in Iraq, which Wynn originally supported, managed to raise $191,000 in just six weeks, mostly from individuals. Edwards is an attorney, community activist, and long-time toiler for the public interest, working on issues such as campaign finance reform and violence against women, as well as being executive director of the Arca Foundation.

Disclosure: Donna’s office was next door to mine 15 years ago when we both worked for Public Citizen, and we've been friends since. I talked to Edwards about her campaign for Congress—and why she is a Muckraking Mom.