The Double Burden: Three Generations Of Working Mothers

Working mothers are the subject of filmmaker Marlene Booth's interesting multi-generational look at women who found ways to balance their need (and often desire) to work with the responsibilities of being a mother. As a working mother, herself, filmmaker Booth recalls reading horrendous comments in child-raising books about young children separated from their mothers who would turn to "delinquency, deviant behavior, and crime." Rubbish, to be sure, but disturbing to a young mother in a society that somewhat encourages guilt over sending children to day care. Although we think of two-career families as a recent phenomenon, some stretch back through several generations (though, more often than not, the "grandmothers" featured in the film had to work because of unstable marriages). The film looks at three families: Mexican-American, Polish-American, and African-American. Otile Gomez, at 83, recalls her early working days as a migrant laborer until she had enough money set aside to buy a restaurant, where her daughter Molly (age 54) works as a waitress. Molly's daughter Jeanette is pursuing a career in drafting. Stella Shuman, 83, remembers her grueling days as a bacon packer. Coming home from work, Stella says that the first hour home was spent "thawing out." Her daughter, Ronnie says her mother instilled in her the work ethic as well as simple rules for good living ("never go upstairs or downstairs empty-handed," etc.). Her daughter Debbie works as a special education teacher. Katie Mae "Mother" Robinson, aged 81, worked as a sharecropper during her early years. She says, matter-of-factly, "I raised chickens, I raised hogs, and I raised children." Her daughter Sophie was first a sharecropper and then a nurse's aide, and Sophie's daughter Katie, who works as an in-home day care provider. A loving look at working women, The Double Burden: Three Generations of Working Mothers is highly recommended. (Available from: New Day Films, 121 West 27th St., Suite 902, New York, NY 10001; (212) 645-8210.)