Progress: More Moms in Congress

Read an article today on CNN about how there is increasingly more moms with young children in Congress.

Most people know Nancy Pelosi (D-California), the first female Speaker of the House, is both a mother and grandmother, but the new trend is serving in Congress while having/raising small children. The article mentions, besides Speaker Pelosi, the following mom/lawmakers:

• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York


• Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-South Dakota


• Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-California (due to become the eighth woman to give birth while holding office in Congress)

These mom lawmakers struggle with many of the same issues as many working moms have. Sen. Gillibrand mentions that her 11 month old son Henry is on the waiting list for the Congressional day care center, and Rep. Herseth Sandlin, nursing a 5 month old, says sometimes she needs to get creative about pumping (sometimes between votes in the Ladies' Reading Room at the Capitol).

While both Gillibrand and Herseth Sandlin admit that work-life balance may be a bit easier for them than the average working mom (they are the bosses, they rely on a lot of family support, and, to an extent, have some flexibility in planning meetings and travel to their home states), they think Congress, and the public, will benefit from their and their female colleagues' service.

"Our approach to policies that were important to us before become even more important, whether it's early childhood development and how you fund it, child-care, quality child-care, child nutrition, prenatal care," said Herseth Sandlin.

The article asserts that there has been an effort by both parties over the past several years to recruit younger women.

"To have new moms in the House is really a dream come true," said Pelosi during a recent news conference. It's a real message to working moms and young moms across America that someone who shares their experience and their aspirations for their children is a voice for them in the Congress."

Hopefully these women will set an example for our daughters - that you CAN have a stake in shaping our country while raising a family. Read the full article here.

If any of these Congress moms are from your state, be sure to visit their web sites and send them e-mails with your ideas and thoughts on working and raising a family. If you know of any other moms in Congress, comment with their names, and I'll post an update with a link to their site(s).