Issue VI: How To Advocate for Change with the Chamber of Mothers
On amplifying the voices and needs of mothers to elected officials
Welcome to The Village! I’m Kate – an essayist and mother fascinated by the ways we create community in our lives, inspired by those who do it well, and convinced that thriving communities are what makes for a joyful world.
Mothering is hard.
In the United States, a lack of paid family leave and the near-impossibility of finding affordable, consistent childcare can make mothering even harder. I’ve long been fascinated by the policies other countries enact to support parents and young children, and how they make those supports widely available and affordable. When I saw mothers and writers I admire begin sharing news from Chamber of Mothers, it felt as though we were one step closer to policies that make a tangible difference for families being enacted here.
Intentionally modeled after the lobbying power of organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AARP, Chamber of Mothers is a non-profit organization harnessing the collective power of mothers in the United States to enact structural change.
I spoke via e-mail with Raena Boston, co-founder of Chamber of Mothers, about the legislative outlook for paid family leave and accessible childcare, how mothers in every community can get involved, and why your calls to government officials really do matter. Especially inspiring was the list she shared of activists and advocates working to make change on these policies in a variety of ways. If you’re looking for inspiration and ways to make a difference in your own community, Chamber of Mothers and the leaders Raena names here are an excellent place to start.
Thanks for being here, Raena!
This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
1. Motherhood can often be a really lonely and isolating experience (and part of the reason I started this Substack around building community) but mothers in the collective have been part of some of the most transformational social issues of our age with MADD, and the Moms Demand Action network on gun violence. What do you hope to accomplish with Chamber of Mothers?
Chamber of Mothers exists because many of us in the online motherhood space were fed up and fired up after paid leave was stripped from Build Back Better in 2021. In that moment we realized that a lot of mothers felt similarly, and we decided to amplify the voices of mothers in the United States. From that emerged our three pillars. 1. Securing paid family and medical leave. 2. Affordable and accessible childcare and 3. Improved maternal health. These three pillars are vital to the success of our nation and we want to unite mothers as advocates to champion those pillars in order to create the country we want to live in and bestow upon future generations.
2. Chamber of Mothers began to advocate for federal paid family and medical leave - where does that issue stand now? What lawmakers have been supportive? What lawmakers haven’t been?
At the federal level, paid leave is currently stalled. The Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act, or FAMILY Act, was reintroduced by lawmakers but with a divided Congress there isn’t much happening at the moment.
We are very encouraged to see that in the absence of federal action, there are states implementing paid leave on their own, with Minnesota being the most recent victory. We hope that the state wins will increase the pressure at the federal level.
While voters on both sides of the aisle support paid leave, we’ve noticed that Republican lawmakers often believe that paid leave is too big of a financial burden. This is not true. The data shows that paid leave strengthens workforce participation in women, improves maternal and child health outcomes, and creates financial stability for families.
3. What are some specific ways that mothers - or parents and caregivers of every kind - can get involved in advocating in their own communities for policies that support families?
The easiest way is to simply know where their state and local officials stand on paid leave and childcare. This can be found by simply searching the elected official’s name + paid leave or childcare and seeing what comes up. If there is nothing listed, call them!
We also know that political offices tally up issues from the calls that they receive. For example, if you were calling to advocate for a politician to sign on to universal background checks, a staffer is tallying that. When these offices receive a high volume of calls on a specific issue puts pressure on that elected official to take a stance and/or answer for their stance on a specific issue.
Lastly, don’t go it alone. We are rolling out local chapters because we know that mothers want to do advocacy work in community with others.
4. After a federal paid family and medical leave policy, what’s next?
A mother’s work is never done! Our nation has a long way to go to be on par with other similarly resourced nations. We are in a childcare crisis, which can only be solved with federal subsidization. Regarding maternal health, giving birth in this country can be fatal, particularly for Black and Indigenous women. We will continue advocating for policies that advance maternal rights and health.
5. Lastly, whose communities have inspired the work you do? What organizations or leaders do you look up to as we advocate for better family care in America?
We are inspired by:
Ai-jen Poo: President of the National Domestic Worker's Alliance and Director of Caring Across Generations
Liuba Grechen Shirley: Founder of Vote Mama
Shannon Watts: Founder of Moms Demand Action
Emily Ramshaw: Co-Founder of The 19th
Dawn Hucklebridge: Founding Director of Paid Leave for All
Kimberly Seals Allers: Executive Director of Narrative Nation
Josephine Kalipeni: Executive Director of Family Values at Work
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner: Executive Director of Moms Rising
Supermajority (now [led by] Interim Executive Director Taylor Salditch)
Elliot Haspel: Director, Climate & Young Children at Capita
These leaders have been doing the work in the areas that we advocate in and we lean on, amplify, and champion all of their hard work.
Thank you so much, Raena. Join the Chamber of Mothers here. What aspects of U.S. policy toward parents would you love to see implemented or changed? What policies have made your communities and your parenting networks stronger? Let us know in the comments below!