What does this mean?  What ideas brought about this mission statement?  Why is it so ambitious and so contrary to the direction of most other contemporary movements?

   Mallory Crawford, founder of Earth Mother Enterprises, Inc. (EME), observed that the women's movement primarily served the needs of childless single women and, secondarily, served the needs of childless married women.  A mothers' movement appeared long overdue.

   A true mothers' movement is a movement for mothers who want to spend their time mothering, who want to directly provide the very best for their children, and who want to be powerfully influential women in the wider world.  Mothers should not have to forfeit their status as citizens, when they put their responsibilities as mothers first.

   Government-run and private day care are not the most desirable solutions for overworked mothers.  They are designed to allow a mother to work, even though they also try to meet social and educational needs of children.  Mothers' lives can be enhanced by sharing their mothering activities with other mothers and helpers, but a mother is demeaned when she forfeits her primary role to others.

   In pre-industrial societies mothers typically gather food, weave, grind grains, and perform other highly-valued functions in the company of their children.  Mothers hold a central place, sometimes literally occupying the central courtyard of the village, while nurturing their children and providing other crucial services to their community.

   That image of centrality and communality stands in sharp contrast to the modern image of mothers' getting together with other women for work and socializing, only by leaving their children behind.  A mother should not have to choose between those two natural impulses: to work alongside colleagues and to be present for her children.

   EME plans to raise consciousness and stimulate desire for a maternal lifestyle that brings together the best opportunities from both pre-industrial and technological societies.  Educating mothers and their allies about the specific ways this goal may be achieved will then build on that consciousness and desire.

   Mother Nature has been pushed aside, along with motherhood, as society has become enamored of the power of technology and impatient for economic profit.  The environmental sensitivity to restore Her, along with mothers and maternal women, is EME's companion goal.

   Maternal women deserve respect as the bearers and best nurturers of young human beings.  Mother Nature deserves respect as the bearer and nurturer of all life on this planet.

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