Cherie Blair denigrates motherhood


The Telegraph reports on a speech given by Cherie Blair: Cherie Blair attacks 'yummy mummies' who choose children over careers. Speaking to top people at a posh hotel in London, she said:
Every woman needs to be self-sufficient and in that way you really don’t have a choice - for your own satisfaction; you hear these yummy mummies talk about being the best possible mother and they put all their effort into their children. I also want to be the best possible mother, but I know that my job as a mother includes bringing my children up so actually they can live without me.
The focus is on women who, supposedly, marry rich men in order to "retire" and spend their time looking after their children.

In fact there are plenty of women who marry not so rich husbands and make sacrifices to be with their children - and others who feel that they have to work in order to make ends meet, but would rather be with their children full time.

What Cherie Blair is doing in this speech is to denigrate the vocation of motherhood as though it were a second-class activity. For many working mothers it would be rather obviously far-fetched to describe audio-typing or work at the supermarket check-out, taken on out of necessity because of the tax regime's lack of support for the family, as a glorious liberation from the "demands" of being with their children. Those privileged enough to work in a top London chambers might find that difficult to understand.

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