Pushing the Motherhood Cause

The MomsRising documentary was first shown on Capitol Hill in the fall in an event that brought in Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Edward M. Kennedy and Christopher J. Dodd.

But Blades and Rowe-Finkbeiner want their group to cross political lines and have held discussions with the Christian Coalition and other groups.

As Blades sees it, many mothers have viewed their problems balancing work and family as the result of individual choices. MomsRising suggests the problems are systemic, deeply ingrained in the culture of U.S. business and government.

Among the solutions it cites: paid family leave, incentives for companies to offer flexible schedules, better pay and benefits for part-timers, health care for all children, affordable child care, and "living wages" and benefits for child-care workers.

MomsRising also backs reforming television rating systems, unbundling cable television packages and more funding for after-school programs.

"We have a 1950s support structure -- with 72 percent of mothers in the labor force," Rowe-Finkbeiner said. "It's time for our policies and programs to catch up with our modern economy."

As its issues come up -- recently, the federal Healthy Families Act, which mandates paid sick days -- the group sends out what it calls "e-outreaches." In 48 hours, MomsRising members sent 16,873 e-mails to their lawmakers asking them to co-sponsor.

Following its success in Washington state, the group is supporting paid-family-leave bills in Oregon, New Jersey and New York. And it has plans for dads -- including a Father's Day campaign to bring more of them into the fold on activism.

Creating a Single Voice

Nine days after the Silver Spring party, there's another in Arlington County.

This time, the host is Erin M. Fuller, a 35-year-old mother who heads a national association of female business owners. Her eight professional friends arrive to wine, spring rolls, bruschetta and brie.

They are a noisier group, talking through the "Motherhood Manifesto" documentary and similarly shocked by the U.S. ranking on maternity leave policies.

"Are you serious?" one woman asks.

Later, the documentary focuses on a conservative business owner named Jim Johnson, who says flexible work schedules have made his workers more loyal and reduced turnover.

"Let's clone Jim Johnson," one woman proclaims.

"Jim Johnson for president!" says another.

Fuller reflects: "It's a brilliant repackaging of issues. They're so common-sense. Why are we unwilling or unable to create an environment where it's not so stressful to raise a family? The things they have listed are not up for debate, in my opinion."

Days later, one of her friends, Janet Shih Hajek, a lawyer with a son who is almost 2, now pregnant with her second child, was still impressed.

"You just get so bogged down -- did my son take his naps today, and what did he eat, and how did he poop? . . . You're not necessarily thinking about the wider world."

But, Hajek said, "if we were to speak with a single voice more often, I think change would happen more often."