Catherine Rampell
“‘I never miss a baseball game,’ said Ms. Uttech, uttering a statement that is a fantasy for millions of working mothers (and fathers) nationwide,” New York Times economic reporter Catherine Rampell (7/8/13) reported.
Sara Uttech, a mom from Wisconsin who is white, middle-class and works full-time as her family’s primary breadwinner, is the subject of a recent New York Times feature used to kick off Rampell’s series on balancing work and life:
Ms. Uttech, like many working mothers, is a married college graduate and her job running member communications for an agricultural association helps put her family near the middle of the nation’s income curve.
The article, and Rampell’s subsequent blog posts (7/8/13, 7/9/13, 7/10/13) responding to criticisms about the piece, does not discuss the many other working mothers who are not married, do not have college degrees and are not members of the white middle-class.
One of the most important facts left out while discussing breadwinners? Of female breadwinners in America, 63 percent are single moms with a median family income of just $23,000. Mostly young and without a college degree, they are also disproportionately black or Latina (Pew Research, 5/29/13).
“There is only so much I could squeeze into one article about a complicated topic,” she blogged a day after the story’s publication (7/9/13). True–but her simplified story ended up following the well-worn path of discussing mothers in the workforce by excising women of color or women in poverty from the equation.
In These Times‘ (7/10/13) responded to Rampell’s piece:
Work-life balance has been an area of growing concern as daughters of the New Left have grown up, gotten jobs and had families. Books such as Lean In, by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, advise women that they can have it all–family and success at work–if they take more risks in their careers.
Unfortunately, mothers working in low-wage jobs, many of them women of color, don’t have the option to step up into risky ventures with high opportunities for growth. As government support for children and families have shrunk since the 1980s, many women have been pushed into low-paying service jobs and can barely keep step with the economic demands placed on them.
Rampell’s article focused on Uttech, who persuaded her boss to allow her a more flexible work hours, while the blogs discussed gaining more flexible hours by transitioning to self-employment, working part-time or sharing household chores with your spouse.
But here is the hitch: Persuading your boss requires a job where you are not easily replaceable (read: a high-paying job). Self-employment requires capital (read: disposable personal wealth). Working part-time and relying on a spouse for help around the house requires someone else co-supporting your family (read: married with a dual income).
Hardly valuable advice for 63 percent of female breadwinners.
Rampell’s classist focus is on those striving to “have it all”
Oblivious to the reality of so many struggling to just have enough.
Its the old saw and ‘dismissal’, if this person can do it, then so can you. The problem is not that Mothers want to have it all.
Fathers don’t have that problem, if they want a career and family they just marry a working woman. They don’t have to worry about ‘having it all’.
I would think that a newspaper or a magazine article would have a certain target audience in mind. NYT clearly targets middle and upper class segments. You cater to your audience and not to population statistics.
how old is this womanish thing? … mid-twenties? Why bother with her? As another comment points out, she ‘writes’ for her audience … a small group of self-absorbed ‘go-getters’ … or whatever they call themselves. There was a time about 40 years ago when the newer generations had a glimmer of visionary sence… then, somehow, money became ‘hip’… and the snakeskinned regained their balance, figured out the new con, and carried on, business as usual. Should have put the acid in the drinking water while we had the chance.
Maybe we need a more precise definition for people who work. Maybe there will be the breadwinners ( good subjects for certain venues.) They win the bread lottery.
Then there are the crust eaters, those who had careers, lost them and can never find a replacement, or those who just graduated from college but can’t survive paying back their student debt. These are definitely the crust eaters, and sadly, they are legion.
Im not really interested in arguing the points brought up.I did catch one kind of “off the mark” viewpoint from FAIR.You said several times that people(minorities)without a degree are making diddly squat in the money dept.News Flash…….With men with Ivy league degrees are working in supermarkets making that same diddly squat.This economy sucks.For most people
…..white men