Motherhood is theme of Women’s History Month on campus

Why is the most important job in the world still the least valued?

Ann Crittenden, author and economist, will discuss that question in “The Price of Motherhood” as the keynote speaker for Women’s History Month at BGSU.

The award-winning journalist will illustrate how the work of raising children creates enormous wealth for society, but huge economic penalties for the women who do the work. Her talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. March 22 in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

Her 2001 book, The Price of Motherhood, created a national stir. Her research on the topic revealed that college-educated women pay a “mommy tax” of over $1 million in lost income when they have a child, and that most legal statutes provide mothers with neither financial equality in marriage nor financial security in divorce. In addition, because caregivers do not earn Social Security credits for the years they spend caring for a child or other family members, mothers are the poorest people in old age.

Crittenden’s talk is one of many events planned around this year’s theme of “Reproductive Cultures: Motherhood in Women’s History.”

The Women’s Center will host brown-bag lunch sessions from noon-1 p.m. on Wednesdays including “Child-Free by Choice: Happy Non-Mothers” on March 16, “Mom, I Want a G.I. Joe: Feminists Raising Sons” on March 23 and the seventh annual “Bring Your Favorite Professor/Mentor to Lunch” on March 30. The center is in 107 Hanna Hall.

The Women’s Research Network will host a presentation by Dr. Nancy Orel, gerontology, and Dr. Laura Landry-Meyer, family and consumer sciences, on “Providing Care across the Lifespan: Expectations, Rewards and Risks,” from 1:30-3:30 p.m. March 18 in 107 Hanna Hall.

Women’s History Month at BGSU is sponsored by the Women’s Center and the Women’s Studies Program, with additional support from the American Culture Studies and Gerontology programs, the Bowen-Thompson Student Union, the Center for Family and Demographic Research, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Family and Consumer Sciences, Human Resources, the Office of the Provost, the LGBTA-Q Resource Center, the Organization for Women’s Issues, vision, and the departments of ethnic studies, economics and legal studies.

For more information, contact the Women’s Center at 2-7227.