The first full-time woman referee in the NFL—what a huge story! Writer and photographer Anne Born is delighted at the news but highly critical of the way referee Sarah Thomas’ new job is being reported. This April 2015 essay was published on the blog The Broad Side.
Read it here: Born, "’Mother of Three’ to Ref for the NFL: What’s Being a Mom Got to Do With It?”
- Why does Born object to the inclusion of “mom” information in news articles about women? Summarize her argument briefly. Do you agree? Why or why not?
- Born frequently addresses her audience directly with the pronoun you and by posing questions, such as “Do you care?”, that expect immediate answers. Is her use of direct address an effective rhetorical device in this article? Why or why not? Explain your reasoning.
- Read (or re-read) Ellen Ullman’s essay in Chapter 20 of your text. Although Ullman makes no explicit mention of motherhood, how might she respond to Born’s argument? What advice might Ullman give to NFL ref Sarah Thomas?
- We often hear that being a parent is the most important job that a person can have. Born makes an accurate observation, however, that we seldom hear how many children a newsworthy man has. She asks if you know how many children the male governor of Indiana has, and she asks if you care. Should you care? Should the parenthood status of men be as essential a component of news reports and features as it is of women? Write an essay in which you respond to these questions. Using Born as your They Say, state your position clearly and explain your reasoning
They Say I Blog 
Born asks the reader a single question using direct address as a rhetorical device in her article. She asks, “Yet, how many of you reading this can tell me, off the top of your head, whether or not the Governor of Indiana has children? Do you care? Is he ever referred to as a “Father-of-Three?” being her only use of direct address as a rhetorical device. Other than that single statement, she uses direct address throughout her article only to refer to the general public.
I agree with Sam Van Roy’s statement, the public needs to look past one’s gender and recognize people based on their achievements. I disagree with M. Hobert’s closing statement that we live in a male-dominated culture. Everyone is equal, although the media might not be able to express that as clearly as they should, people should realize the fact that today’s world is more diverse and equalized than it used to be.
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I agree with aby, a women should not be the only one being described using the term mom. if that is the case then the father needs to be described as dad. If this were to happen then the male and female parents would be looked at equally and both as primary caretakers and not just the Female.
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I agree with Goat. as he puts it “Yes, she’s a mother. Spectacular. She’s also a hard working human being who is here in order to work and be seen for what she does in the job place” he is completely correct. a mother can be like a superhero, doing all this at once and still maintains a family but so does the father. Look at a surgeon for example, having to log so many OR hours a week but still needs to come home and be a parent. Notice how I didn’t say mother or father? that’s because it doesn’t matter the sex of the parent or the job, they are both equal and have the same responsibilities.
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I agree with Luci on the topic that women should not be held accountable for the number of children they have, especially in the work field. Like Luci said, “If men are not accounted for their number of children, why should women.” Also claiming a woman just as a mother is taking away from the fact that she can be more than that. Women getting referred to Mother of Two are losing their importance in the work field and in life.
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I think that a female referee in the NFL is a very good thing and it goes to show you how far women have came in this country. But of course people are always going to try to down-play the fact that there’s a woman working at the highest level of football and try to say that it’s not good for the football culture, “it’s a man’s game”, and so forth. But at the end of the day, who are we to say that she shouldn’t be a ref in the NFL. Because at the end of the day she has to work a job to feed her children, and her children are her motivation to why she is doing this.And the fact she can actually take care of her kids, be a mom at home and be a ref us amazing. Not everybody can balance kids and a difficult job.
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Born believes that the media shouldn’t recognize women in their positions based on how many children they have. For example, she lists Sarah Thomas, the first female NFL referee. Not only is she recognized for being the first female to ref a game, she’s also recognized for the fact that she’s a mother of three. Sure, the fact that Mrs. Thomas is a mom might be worth including when she’s being described. But when it comes to her worthiness for being an NFL referee, the focus should be on her achievements as a ref and her ability to do so fairly as other referees do. Born states her argument clearly as to why football fans should care about the new NFL ref.
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I also have to agree with Emily Duff because she makes that statement that women are not treated equally just because they have children. If anything the women should get more respect from others because she is able to juggle raising a child and working. Women are not meant to stay at home because if they do, they will never be able to show the world that they are able to do the same things as men. And mothers are not the only ones who are able to care for a child, they eventually need a man to help raise the child, especially in today’s world. Also it’s going to be very hard to raise a child on just a man’s income, there is going to need to be another source of income. This is where the women get time to show what they can do, and not have anyone tell them they can’t, or discourage them.
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Born speaks about the double standard between men and woman, Born States that “women are always referred to by the number of children they have”, But not so much for men she goes on stating “how many of you reading this can tell me, off the top of your head, whether or not the Governor of Indiana has children? Do you care? Is he ever referred to as a “Father-of-Three?”” shes makes a valid point when she says that society needs to end diminishing a woman’s achievements by counting how many children she has. Society doesn’t do that with men so why should they with a woman?
I agree with Born’s argument that woman shouldn’t be referred to by how many child when have. I believe having accomplishments and children should be praised not look down on.
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Born believes that a mom is being discriminated when the news states that she has children and it might interfere with the job. Born argues that the public rarely sees an article stating that a man has children. It shouldn’t matter. A woman shouldn’t have her motherhood included into her description when looking for a job. A woman has the same responsibilities as a man when it comes to being parents, certain tasks may just be managed differently. It is sexist to think that a woman won’t be able to do something because she has children. The essentials of a man having children should be just as important as a woman because women can do the same as men and vice versa as parents. Women shouldn’t be judged on whether or not they can obtain a certain job because they have children.
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I agree with Savannah. Women should be able to have some of the same jobs men have in this country. Just because most women are called to a life of motherhood things have to be different all of a sudden?
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Anne Born, in her “’Mother of Three’ to Ref for the NFL: What’s Being a Mom Got to Do With It?,” talks about Sarah Thomas and how she became the first female, full-time NFL referee and criticizes the media for handling the situation the way it did. Born states that reporters labelling Thomas as a “mother of three” is simply an attempt to degrade Thomas’ accomplishment. She also states that it is unfair because when men make the news they are not addressed as “father of two” or something similar. After reading this article I believe that both sides make strong points and I stand in the middle. Sarah Thomas is an accomplished NFL referee, and has, and takes care of three children. These are both great accomplishments, and she should be praised for both. I agree with one blogger Senam when she states “Congratulations Sarah on your achievement. I commend you for being able to balance life as a mother and also your career. Raising kids is definitely a tedious task. This serves as motivation for many I’m sure, myself included.” Although I am not a mother, I do believe that balancing the two is a great accomplishment. I also agree with another blogger Savannah when they state, “When men with kids do things and it makes the news the fact that they have kids is not mentioned in the article. It should be the same way for women. It’s not fair to women to be categorized as a mother whenever they do something.” Why does this type of labeling come up for woman, but not men? They should be treated equal.
You may be thinking that the only people who care about the issue of labeling are those who feel strongly about one side or another. One the one side people believes that it is great that Sarah is able to accomplish motherhood, and raise three children. On the other side, people believe it is labeling, and this type of story would never come up with men. The true believers on both sides of this issue truly care about the issue if woman and labeling. However, I believe that everyone has there opinion, and it may be labeling, but it is also a way to show two great accomplishments. For one reason, She was able to raise three children, and work for the NFL to accomplishments not many are able to reach. Maybe this type of labeling does not happen to men, but Sarah has accomplished so much, and its great she is able to do it all. This being said, The idea of woman and labeling continues to be an issue, but in this case it’s just a matter of how the reader interprets the story.
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It is wonderful news to know that there is a permanent female referee in the NFL. I also contend with Summer Melrose, that headlining the fact that Sarah Tomas is a mother is pointless.
At first glance, many might say, who cares the lady is a success. But on closer inspection the purpose of the article was to address her significance regarding her career in football, not the fact that she’s also a mother. It is clear that there is still a lack in gender equality, for the article to mention Sarah Tomas being a mother before mentioning her success as a referee. I also agree with Taylor Griffith that typically when a man has done something successful, no one tends to mention whether or not he’s a father before mentioning his success. It is very degrading and through I am not a woman, I believe that its safe to say that just because a woman has children, does not limit the fact that they can still be successful. That being said any article being published should be focused towards the women’s work and accomplishments rather than how many kids they are raising.
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Q1: Firstly, after reading this essay, I can say Anne Born answered the questions of so what? and who cares? quite well. For instance, when she is talking about whether it is possible to be both a mom and professionally successful, she asks the question, “Yet, how many of you reading this can tell me, off the top of your head whether or not the governor of India have children? Do you care? Is he ever referred to as the “Father-of-three?”. Secondly, it goes without saying that Born objects the “mom” information in the news because not everyone is noticed of having children and being pointed out for it. In other words, she goes on talking about other people who have made big accomplishments in life, but were not accounted for the number of children they have. For example, she goes on further about Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States, who also graduated from two ivy league Universities, but was not mentioned for having two you children. I can agree with what she is saying here because I myself feel when being acknowledged for your personal accomplishments, you do not need to add the extra, “Oh I also have three children.”. Instead, after being acknowledged for your achievements a reporter could right about that persons personal life in another article or headline. However, I will say it also is a huge accomplishment to take on a professional career, while balancing in family time care, but it should be acknowledged else where. In conclusion, not everyone is a parent and not everyone needs children nor need to have children to be considered a successful person.
I can agree with what Samantha Hackett has to say because not every great women should be defined by the number of children you have. Also, I can agree with what Jarling has to say that being a parent is not the most important job any person can have. I know that as an adult myself many other things contribute as jobs. For instance, balancing bills, keeping healthy social life, and our careers. While these are just a few off the top of my head, all these jobs play a big part into adulthood as well.
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In the article “Mother of Three”, Anne Born objects to the inclusion of “mom” because women should not be defined by their parenthood nor by the number of children they have. Born argues about how the media portrays women and men differently. Also, Born says the media labels women based on their maternal status. I strongly agree with Anne Born because there is no correlation between a woman’s maternal status and achievements. Furthermore, being a mother implies a sense of maturity and responsibility, but that information is unnecessary because the article is about sports not motherhood. Referring to women as mothers in articles that have nothing to do with motherhood results in female stereotypes.
Horbet stated, “In this society women are usually defined and described by their association to other people.” I agree with Horbet’s claim because society tends to overlook women for their achievements because of the people they are associated with. Associating women with other people is a way of making women seem dependent of others. Sahar Kaleem agrees with Horbet’s statement by addressing society’s expectations of women. Kaleem proclaimed, “Society does not expect mothers to have time for anything other than their children.” Kaleem expresses that it is not solely the mother’s job to raise her children; the father should do an equal amount of work if both parents work full-time. Women are capable of being successful with children. This article shows that society has not moved past pre-World War 1 values that women should not work, they should stay home and take care of their children.
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@Summer Melrose argues that it is pointless to mention that a woman is a mother when it comes to jobs. I agree because it shouldn’t be that way. A woman shouldn’t be held back from achieving her goals because she is a mother. It should depend on whether or not once she obtains the job, if she can manage the time. It is unnecessary to include that a woman is a mother when she is looking for a job because a man can hold the same responsibilities as a woman in parenting. It isn’t that big of a deal when talking about men being a father, so why should it be a big deal for women?
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@Samantha Hackett agrees with Born’s article by saying that it is sexist to state that a mother can’t be a successful worker. I believe that a woman shouldn’t be looked at differently because she has children. It doesn’t make that much of a difference if a woman has children or a man has children; they are parents.
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1.Why does Born object to the inclusion of “mom” information in news articles about women? Summarize her argument briefly. Do you agree? Why or why not?
In her article “Mother of Three”, Anne Born argues that when a women makes groundbreaking accomplishments in history, these accomplishments get diminished down to the amount of children she is raising. To prove her point she uses Sara Thomas as an example. Sara Thomas has been platformed as being the first permanent female referee.Sara had the inspirational story of picking a career in football because of her brother. Instead of focusing the hard work it took in order for her to move up the ranks, the news only focused on her having a seven month old baby while getting through the process. Born poses the question that most people wonder, “ What does her having a baby have to do with her career in football?” She goes on to say that the news tends to refer to women who hold powerful positions as only a mother. This information takes away from the newsworthy changes they are bringing about. Born makes the point that you don’t to have be a mother in order to be good at what you love. Anne gives other multiple examples of women who hold powerful positions, but unfortunately are only put into the “mom” category in order for them to get any buzz about them. She refers to the incident of the U.S Ambassador of United Nations Samantha Power winning the Pulitzer Prize for her best-selling book. Once again instead of focusing on her accomplishment, Power was only looked at as a “struggling mother of two”. Born names Mary Barra (General Motors CEO) , Elizabeth Warren (U.S. Senator), and Michelle Obama (First African American first lady) being brushed into the mom category. When the news or articles refer to women this way, they basically questions women’s capability to handle their career because they have children.Others thoughts infer that you have to be a great mother in order to make the news, and that for childless women their success doesn’t come as a surprise. Born feels that unless a woman’s children are the reason why she’s in the news, that attribute shouldn’t be the center of her description. She asks the question if we can easily answer whether or not the Governor of Indiana has children. The question poses the thought of why men aren’t held to the same standards as far disregarding their accomplishments due to the amount of children they have.It’s wrong to measure a woman’s achievements against her parenting skills. She ends her logical rant by saying the only thing the public should be focused on is the work being produced.
I strongly agree with Born’s agreement that it’s wrong to diminish women’s accomplishments by counting the number of children she’s raising. The concept comes off as very sexist. I say this because for people to think like that is to infer that being a mother is all a woman is good for. Women are just as capable as a man to hold a top position, and manage parenting their children.Some may argue that the reason a woman’s parenting comes into play is because they are fascinated by how she can juggle it all. However, the thought also comes off as questioning her capability to do her job effectively. If women are being questioned, then men should be questioned accordingly. Motherhood is a huge milestone as Born stated, but no woman should not be limited to just that. The public should consider getting their thought process past the sexist negativity.
Ultimately, what is at stake here is the daily life of women. We shouldn’t be limited to only being good mothers. This is a battle that’s been going on since the beginning time, and will go until the end. Over the years women have proved that they were able to hold their own in male dominated industries. Although these accomplishments have been made, there is still room for more. Even then we will keep achieving and striving for equality.
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If sports enthusiasts stopped to think about it, many of them might simply assume that the most successful refs in the NFL are men. However, Sarah Thomas recently became the first permanent female ref. Why is it that in describing her, many journalists resort to the feminization of her role by titling her “a mother of three” rather than addressing her as they would any other referee? As a fellow woman and also fellow football lover, the progression of the NFL and their desire to treat both men and women the same if the have the same credentials is amazing. Some sports enthusiasts may argue that women are not as knowledgeable on the sport therefore they may make incorrect calls on plays but I refute that argument because they clearly would not have been appointed their position by the NFL themselves if they did not have expert knowledge of the sport and its plays. Another argument that may arise is that there would not be enough time for a woman to be a mom as well as a referee but that leads me to agree with Ben and Savannah Crawford that by immediately commenting on them as mothers is sexist and if they have the time to balance both, then who are we to judge-let them do it! The frequenting of the pronoun you is very effective in personalizing the text with the reader and I do believe it adds emphasis to any female reader, who may also be striving for a career in the NFL, to continue standing in the fight against sexism.
Woman and especially those who have grown up enjoying football should be extremely enthused with the NFL’s decision to allow her to be a ref and that furthers the ever long feminist movement for equal treatment. equal pay, and equal duties of our male counterparts. Further support of females obtaining these jobs should be widely supported and I would even go as far to suggest that petitioning the NFL to hire more qualified females be done as well.
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The blogger Savannah is right that women cannot do something in the news without mentioning their family. Women should be treated just like men in the sense that their family life should not always taken in account for if what they accomplished is national news worthy. According to the author and of the main article and the blogger, women who make major accomplishments are always categorized as being a ‘mother of…” In my view, just because women break barriers does not mean that their family life should always be mentioned unless if it is important to the overall theme of the story. People should care about this because it is not fair. The national media needs to change the way they view their opinions. Instead of saying mother of three, they could change it to say “Anne Born becomes the first female referee cites her family for all of her success.”
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Born makes an observation about the over usage of emphasizing the amount of children a woman has. She asks the readers why it is only the women who are being labeled with the difficulty of doing their job, as well as having a certain amount of children. Born wants to know if the parenthood of men should be as essential to reporting news as it is for women. I am of mixed feelings about this because I do agree with born that women’s parenthood is emphasized too much, but I also believe that it is for a reason and that men’s parenthood isn’t reported as much for a good reason.
In Born’s report, she says that news reporters always state how many children a women has while they are working. She uses the example of a “Mother of three, NFL Referee.” Born’s argument is, why does the public not see men with the label as “father of three, governor.” I do believe that some jobs that women are in the news for doing, can go without the label of how many children they have, such as an NFL referee. A job that is not that work intensive and you are not away from your children that much does not need a label behind it. A very busy job, such as a governor, it may be better to include the parenthood status of the person just for dramatic effect and to make the job sound more strenuous. There is a natural connection between a mother and a child, and in typical families with two parents, the mother is at home more than the father. While this is not always true, I believe that when there is a stay at home father doing a busy job, it is noted. I have seen a few articles that mention how many children the father have, the only issue is that it is rare to see a stay at home father being mentioned for his work. Until recent years, women’s roles were supposed to be stay at home mothers and were not supposed to work. This thought is so recent that it may be stuck in some people’s minds still. With those people whose minds are stuck in the past, it is something rare and uncommon that a women enters the workforce. It is for that reason, that I believe people make a note of a mothers parenthood status because they are stuck in the mindset that they are still a stay at home mom while pursuing a career. Sometimes this is the case that only then I believe it should be noted.
One blogger states that they do not believe that a person’s personal life such as their parental status should be addressed. I do not agree with this because I do not believe that they address personal issues, I think the reporters simply mention their parental status to make their occupation seem harder to do while being a parent. Often times people forget what it takes to be a parent they the readers who do forget that need to be reminded. Another blogger, Samantha, agreed with my first blogger, Sahar. My view disagrees with both of theirs for the most part. Samantha believes that simply stating how many children a woman has is a sexist statement, I disagree. If Samantha truly believes with this view, I would assume that she would also think that just posting an article about a woman doing a “man’s job” would be sexist. If she thinks that men and women are equal, why were there no reports about men doing a hard job?
But who really cares? Who besides me and a handful of gender equality activists has a stake in these claims? At the very least, the reporters who are posting these articles with parenthood labels should care. If the public is okay with writers including the amount of children a woman has in an article, it would make the readers displeased with the writers work if they included this information. Gender equality is a growing movement that everyone should have an opinion on, good or bad. Gender equality movements are not going away anytime soon. If you are in support of the concept, than you should join local groups and partake in events they have. If you are move of a silent supporter than you can write letters to people in positions of authority or anti-feminist groups. If you are on the other side of the spectrum and do not believe in gender equality, you can counter the other party be simply writing letters or joining peaceful groups that share similar interests as you.
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Anne Born’s article “Mother of Three” to Ref for the NFL: What’s Being a Mom Got to Do With It?” says that being a women and a mother shouldn’t be the big picture. Anne Born says “Yet, how many of you reading this can tell me, off the top of your head, whether or not the Governor of Indiana has children? Do you care? Is he ever referred to as a “Father-of-Three?” in her article. No one does care if the governor is a father or not. But then why do people care if a mother wants to be an NFL referee or an NBA coach? I don’t know, but it shouldn’t matter, a person has the right to what they want to do with their life.
I agree with Summer that it is pointless to mention she is a mother. She states in her response that when a women, specifically a mother makes headlines the people reporting the news mentions how many children she has. The more important details are never in these types of headlines like, her name, where she is form or how old she is. I also agree with Naomi, she says in her comment she says that whether they (the women) has kids or not should not matter. The headlines like this bring back the stereotype that a woman’s job is to stay at home with her kids while the father go out and pay the bills, put food on the table, etc.
The average reader, male and especially women should care about this topic. Starting with the equal rights movement years ago, women have been gaining more and more rights as time went on. This is an important topic because when a women looks for jobs, they’re pay is much lower than that of a man. Now women are starting to grow in sports as this mother is now a referee and a former WNBA player is now an assistant coach for the Spurs. Women are discouraged more because the women is supposed to be there for their kids. I believe this is why when mothers make headlines like this “Mother of Three’ to Ref for the NFL”, they display how many children they have.
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Anne Born, in her writing “Mother of Three to Ref for the NFL: What’s Being a Mom Got to Do With It?,” talks about how Sarah Thomas is the first woman to become an NFL ref and bashes the media for handling the news in a poor way. The author states that Thomas is being labeled as a “mother of three”, which is simply degrading her accomplishment. Born also talks about how it is unfair for Thomas to be labeled as a mother of three in the news for her accomplishment. She says it is unfair because a male would never be called “a father of two” for the same accomplishment. They would just simply be announced as a new referee in the NFL. After reading the article I agree with Anne Born. Although, Sarah Thomas is in fact a mother of three and a NFL referee she doesn’t need to be announced as a mother. I agree with one blogger, Senam, when they state “Congratulations Sarah on your achievement. I comment you for being able to balance life as a mother and also your career. Raising kids is definitely a tedious task. This serves as motivation for many I’m sure, myself included.” I may not be a mother, but growing up watching my mom balance a job and raising kids it is definitely an accomplishment. All mothers who can balance both should be praised. I also agree with another blogger, Savannah, when she states, “When men with kids do things and it makes the news the fact that they have kids is not mentioned in the article. It should be the same way for women. It’s not fair to women to be categorized as a mother whenever they do something.” In my opinion, men and women, moms and dads, should all be treated equally. The idea of women being labeled is an ongoing issue that people still have different opinions on. The labeling of women matters and is important because so many people have such strong feelings about it. In the end, it really depends on how the reader interprets the way these women are being labeled.
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Anne Born, in her “Mother of Three: What’s Being a Mom Got to Do With It?” uses the pronoun “you” and questions such as “Do you care?” to emphasize on the importance of sexism in a working environment rather than treating people equally. For example, Anne Born said “Yet, how many of you reading this can tell me, off the top of your head, whether or not the Governor of Indiana has children? Do you care?” , by the transition from third person to second person, Anne Born captures the reader’s attention by making the reader think about their side of the debate. Because Born draws attention to the reader, the reader starts to be more engage to the debate rather than reading what other people think about feminism.
According to Shengi Fu, I agree that rhetorical question emphasize stereotypical higher role of mothers over fathers in children’s development because the rhetorical questions makes the reader to think outside of their box. Also I agree with that it’s sad that men can be shown as successful without a paternal status but women can’t, because the pronoun “you” emphasizes on the reader’s role towards the debate of sexism.
But who really cares? Who besides me and a handful of readers who are confuse about their side of the debate.Other feminists who are also interested in sports care very much on topics like these because of their desire for equal rights and this article furthers that in the area of sports.
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Anne Born, in her “Mother of Three: What’s Being a Mom Got to Do With It?” uses the pronoun “you” and questions such as “Do you care?” to emphasize on the importance of sexism in a working environment rather than treating people equally. For example, Anne Born said “Yet, how many of you reading this can tell me, off the top of your head, whether or not the Governor of Indiana has children? Do you care?” , by the transition from third person to second person, Anne Born captures the reader’s attention by making the reader think about their side of the debate. Because Born draws attention to the reader, the reader starts to be more engage to the debate rather than reading what other people think about feminism.
According to Shengi Fu, I agree that rhetorical question emphasize stereotypical higher role of mothers over fathers in children’s development because the rhetorical questions makes the reader to think outside of their box. Also I agree with that it’s sad that men can be shown as successful without a paternal status but women can’t, because the pronoun “you” emphasizes on the reader’s role towards the debate of sexism.
But who really cares? Who besides me and a handful of readers who are confuse about their side of the debate.Other feminists who are also interested in sports care very much on topics like these because of their desire for equal rights and this article furthers that in the area of sports.
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When it comes to the topic of gender, most of us readily agree that we have stereotypes towards each gender. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of the emphasis of family roles, such as being a mother. Whereas some are convinced that mothers are the ones that are to be home taking care of the children while the father is at work, others maintain that things have changed. Anne Born explains in her essay the specific view on women and their personal lives. She challenges the question on why the news puts an emphasis on women and being a mother. Her point is that she never really understood why news headlines include the label mother. Only women get this kind of attention. She supports her argument with examples like Sara Thomas the first female to ref in the NFL, or Samantha Power a US Ambassador for the United Nations. When these talented ladies were written about in the news their personal lives were included in their professional story. Born states “Mom Robs Bank. Mom Kills Intruder. If you’ve done something and you happen to be a mom, these days you can expect that little fact to show up in a headline, even though you virtually never see one that mentions ‘Father Does [fill in the blank]”. Born’s point is that fathers aren’t being emphasized in the news like women. You don’t usually hear much about men being a father, but for women it’s always an extra thing that they throw in there.
Blogger Mills commented to Born’s essay with three main points. The first point is if women are able to receive their jobs offer than they are obviously able to complete the job. Her second point is that women can handle both a job and raising children at the same time. Lastly, she supports that sexism is the real issue that needs to be addressed. Blogger Keith explains other bloggers reactions to the essay. For example she explains the importance of both parents involvement in raising children and supporting them.
I personally never noticed the emphasis on women being mothers until I read Born’s essay. Why wouldn’t men have the same about of attention towards their personal lives, like mothers? Just like blogger Mills states, women are just as much capable to succeed in a job as men, especially if they were offered the job. I also believe that both parents should be involved in the process of raising their children.
At first glance, men might say that women don’t have the physically capability that they have. But on closer inspection they both have the same amount of capability to succeed at something. Ultimately, what is at stake here is that women aren’t looked at equally. Women aren’t given the same opportunities as men. We are judged before we even can prove ourselves. We need to be more open-minded towards women and accept the possible abilities that men and women have in common.
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As the title of the article says, “Mother of three: Anne Born wonders why we always need to know”, the author is questioning the people/ media to as why do we mention or get in the business of other females by jumping into conclusions. Anne Born is delighted at the news however exceptionally condemning of the way arbitrator Sarah Thomas’ new employment is being reported. I agree with the author Anne Born, the fact that the media portrays women in a negative way or in a way that may make them feel offended. In this case, the news and interviews that have been conducted regarding this current situation is sexist. Ladies are the same as men with regards to equivalent work equivalent pay, but by stereotyping/passing judgment on others by marking them as “mother of two” or “mother of three”, it has no significance to as why we are saying it in any case.I strongly believe in raising awareness about the on going situation and ending the discrimination on women. We the people must note the importance of equality between both women and men and must take action. In an interview conducted in the reading the article states, “Yet, how many of you reading this can tell me, off the top of your head, whether or not the Governor of Indiana has children? Do you care? Is he ever referred to as a “Father-of-Three?”. This being said, we can see the frustration of females while being questioned about their status.But who really cares? Who besides me and a handful of mothers and NFL enthusiast has a stake in these claims? At the very least, the mothers who formerly believed being labeled as “mother of two” or “mother of three” find it offensive should care. So what if Sarah Thomas is a mother, so what if she is an NFL referee, who are we to judge? Why is it that people tend to look at females differently from males in many situations, in this case, a female referee who is a mother. As the article states, “Some people writing the headlines on this story think that because shes a mom, that’s the nugget of information to lead with”. People tend to jump straight into conclusions about her being a mother and note that she is different from the rest. We need to understand the importance of this situation by realizing how the media portrays women in such a way that they feel possibly offended. I completely agree with a statement made by Matya Kaye how they state that Sarah Thomas is going to become the first female referee, yet in the article, she is refereed to as a mother. Being a mother has nothing to do with being an NFL referee, so why mention it? If it were to be a male referee, which in most cases it is, no one will be saying “father of two” or “father of three”. We must note that the media is constantly stereotyping and being sexiest towards one gender. We must take action by raising awareness on this gender issue that we have. Women are constantly feeling offended and judged just because they are not men. This goes to show that, in today’s society men tend to dominate.
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I understand Anne Born’s view on this but one should not be offended with the title of mother of 3. It is not a problem to be labeled as a mother of your children and I believe that women across the country would not mind being seen as the mother of three, but that does not mean we shouldn’t see the achievements one has accomplished in their life, man or woman. If a woman is on the news for a technological advancement that she was a part of then we should see her for that specific achievement that they have succeeded with.
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They say that women do not belong in the NFL. I disagree strongly with that statement. In our society today, women are viewed upon as a “family figure”.. someone who is supposed to stay at home and watch over their kids as the father goes out to work. This belief is vastly argued upon in the media world as well as in the national government. As for this successful women Sarah Thomas,unfortunately for her, she cannot be given the proper admiration she deserves without her family being brought up into it. Women who achieve milestones like this should be able to receive full credit without their family being brought into play. In conclusion, I disagree with Anne Born’s opinion that her family was one of the reasons for her success. She should be given all the credit she deserves not just her husband and children.
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Anne Born’s article “Mother of Three” to Ref for the NFL: What’s Being A Mom Got To Do With It? Shes arguing that the media is portraying women and I agree, because when women do something that another woman has done it doesn’t get as much respect and attention as it should then it would for a woman that they later find out has kids or is the only parent doing multiple things successfully for their children. Born using direct address makes her statement more effective, its as if she’s getting less attention to the situation if she didn’t. Ullmans advice to Sarah may be to keep doing what she’s doing and to possibly disregard the medias comments and expectations. No, no one should care how many children a male or female mayor has because its not important.
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It has become common today that women who have major accomplishments are connected to having children rather than just being praised for their accomplishments. One implication of the inclusion of “mom” information in news articles about women is that women aren’t successful without having a connection to being a mother. Is this really the case? Basically, Born argues that when women are in the light of the news, their parental status is involved. Why is this information necessary? Why is that when men are acknowledged, we don’t know how many children they have? In Born’s view she questions, “Is the media subtext here that you have to be a great mom before you can make the news doing anything else? That for single or childless women, somehow their success isn’t that surprising? Or remarkable? Or even newsworthy?” I agree with Born’s argument because my experience with the news confirms this. Even in her article, Born gives examples where prominent women, such as US Ambassador Samantha Power is interviewed for her position and a book she’s written, yet she is “reduced to just a struggling Mother of Two.” I agree with Born when she says, “It’s understandable and appropriate to include the “Mother of Two” title to women whose children are why they are in the news, but it’s saying something altogether different when a woman is appointed to a top position in her field and suddenly, the number of children she has is front and center in her description.” Born’s theory of “mom” inclusion is extremely useful because it sheds insight on when to include information about a woman being a mother and when it’s not relevant.
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I do not feel that Women should be labeled as the “mothers of…” I understand where the author is coming from because when one is referring to a man with children no one says “Father of ….” Just because women have children does mean they can’t follow their passions. I like the fact that Mrs. Thomas has made a statement. Women too can do just what men do. Women are framed to stay home and take care of their children. Men are framed to do the hard extravagant jobs. People fail to realize that men too have children that they have to tend to. So honestly I feel that it’s really not a big deal that women are working hard just as men.
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Women are raised to be less ambitious than men because people still do not believe that women are good as men are in workplace. Women are to able successful in their life and career.
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In the article ‘”Mother of Three” to Ref for the NFL: What’s Being a Mom Got to do With it?’ Anne Borne writes about how important women always have title “mother of how many kids they may have.” She believes that this some how takes away from there accomplishments because you never hear men being introduced as “father of.” She has this point of view as mother as well. I see her point but I think she dead wrong and angry for no reason. This should be more worn as a badge of honor by mothers because mothers are amazing. Think about this way, someone is introducing you and they read off your job title and stuff like that than adds on “mother of”. That’s two job’s in itself and a hell of resume. I mean sure men don’t get the same title but who do you think plays more of a role in a child’s life a mother or father? If you automatically think mother, you’re sexist……
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Women should not be label as just mothers, not being able to live and enjoy life doing things they love rather it’s sports or working for a company that usually require men. My mother has three kids including me so I can relate to the situation of a lady wanting to provide needs for her children. I think we should view them different, I know last year the San Antonio spurs hire a female coach Becky Hammon as a assistant coach. Also the NBA hire a female referee to ref in the NBA so things are slowly changing to this regard but it should be more involvement to women having the same opportunities as men.
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I think it really does suck that women are labled as mothers whenever they accomplish something big. I think we could blame the media for it because the media, in general, sucks. But I don’t think it’s entirely the media’s fault. I think naturally we just see women as mothers. The mother bear protecting her cubs comes to my mind. I believe it’s society as a whole that does this. I have to agree it does make accomplishments seem harder to obtain when you’re raising kids whether you’re a father or a mother though. Being an NFL referee means alot of time away from your family and kids which can be pretty hard.
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I agree with Anne Born in the sense that the media shouldn’t post about how many children a mother has when accomplishing something. Whether it was intended to minimize or maximize the accomplishment it’s just something we (the media) should emphasize especially if we don’t do it to men. Though having children is a beautiful experience it should having nothing to do with how differently we get treated and whether we get noticed or not. Why should society focus on how many kids a women has instead of focusing the hard work the person (she) had to go through in order to achieve what they accomplished. It is no different from a man or women achieving the same reward; they should both be treated the same without the mention of kids.
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I think most people are outraged by the media mentioning that a woman in an authoritative position has children and I definitely agree with Matya Kaye; there is no reason that they need to mention that a woman has children unless that is the reason she is in the news. I think our society excuses this behavior because it humanizes the woman and the organization she is representing. Just saying that you have a woman in a remarkable position is great- promoting diversity in these positions should absolutely be praised. But as soon as they put the title “mother of three”, the media and these organizations are giving us a reason to identify with these woman and think “wow, a woman can really have it all”. It humanizes Hillary Clinton to see her as a mother, grandmother, and in that maternal role. It helps people imagine that she could mother this country, regardless of who you support or what your political beliefs are. Having a female referee in the NFL is incredible and it’s demeaning to her and the rest of women for her to be labeled a “mother of three”. It gives us an excuse to berate her and demean her to not being a referee, but just a mom. I partly blame the media for putting this subconscious idea into our heads but I understand the drive to do it- people don’t think women can have power without being the head of their family. This isn’t true at all, but it’s what we’ve been conditioned to believe.
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“Mother of three” to Ref for The NFL: What’s Being a Mom Got to Do With It? Is an article written by Anne Born. Throughout this piece she talks about the way women who are mothers are unable to escape the title. These women are often referred to as being mothers even if that is no relevancy to the topic. The woman used as the primary example is Sarah Thomas, the first permanent female referee in the NFL. Though this would have been a great accomplishment for any woman, Sarah was defamed by the fact that she was a “mother of three”. Instead of continuing to use her accomplishments to define her, reports have continued to use her motherhood as her description. This is not just Sarah who faces this problem, but any woman in a higher position. Several other women like Samantha Power, Andrea Mitchell, and Mary Barra. All women with high social rankings and authority, all at one point or another having their role as a mother define them and their position in their careers.
This goes into a gender-bias, because women are defined by how many children they have and what their professional titles are. Suddenly being a mother affects their capabilities. Anne Born has shown throughout her article the disapproval of including whether or not a woman is a mother. I agree with her opposition because although being a mother, for most, is a pride point, it does not mean that’s what did or did not place them in their position. Being a mother could serve as a motive for why someone tried harder for something, but it does not affect their capabilities. It creates more of a stigma. Once you’re a mother, you can only be known or recognized as a mother.
When a male is a father, he is not glued to that description. When a man accomplishes something or reaches a new social ranking, he is not defined by whether or not he has a wife or children. A woman can be referred to as a mother of so many children but a man will not be referred to as a “family man” or “father of three” unless it benefits him to be called as such. This is an issue that’s hard to change because even female writers and reporters tend to refer to other woman by the stereotypes. Women who do not have children of their own even go against other women, using their children against their ability to do something. Being a mother certainly does not have to define someone and take away what they have worked so hard to be recognized for.
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I certainly feel like there should be more jobs in the NFL for women other then trainers, water girls, cheerleaders, etc. Women have every right to be able to do something that it seems men have dominated over for so long.
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