May 1, 2015
Writer Anne Born wonders why it is that whenever a woman is in the news for some noteworthy accomplishment, she is likely to be described in the headlines by her motherhood status. She writes:
“Women are labeled in the news as “Mother of Two,” or “Mother of Three,” when nothing in the rest of their newsworthiness is about their being mothers. You don’t need to be a mom to ref the NFL. You don’t need to be a mom to love football, but now we all know that Sarah Thomas — a groundbreaking woman in sports — is a “Mother of Three.” What possible additional information about her or her story does this information give us?”
She points out that such descriptions are never used when a man is in the news headlines for something that has nothing to do with his parental status.
Read Anne Born’s article, “Mother of Three to Ref for the NFL: What’s Being a Mom Got to Do with It?
