If Being A Mom Makes Amy Coney Barrett So Qualified, Can I Put Motherhood On My Resumé Too?
If only hiring managers loved working mothers the way Senate Republicans love Judge Barrett and her kids
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For two weeks now, I have heard Republicans talk about motherhood. Not motherhood in general. The very specific motherhood of Amy Coney Barrett. Her confirmation hearings were a pep rally for parenthood. She took center stage in the theatre of the culture wars to talks about her kid as the GOP fawned over her abilities as a mother.
Because whoa Nelly! Is she ever a mother! She has seven kids! She gave birth to some of them! She adopted others! From another country! And they’re a different race than she is! One of her kids has special needs! All while she is also the spiritual child of Phyllis Schlafly and Antonin Scalia!
These aren’t trophy kids being raised by some paid assistant, either. Judge Barrett is a hands-on mom who drives carpool and goes to school performances, and is on the PTA. She knows offhand how much one of her kids can deadlift. Senator Sasse confirmed that she does laundry.
SHE IS MOTHER, HEAR HER ROAR!
I’m pretty stoked about this sudden emphasis on motherhood as a professional qualification because I, too, am a mother. I would love to be able to add some mom-skills to my LinkedIn page. I want my parenthood to qualify me for the top jobs in the land.
Instead, I’m a woman with a lot of academic and professional qualifications but few career prospects because I took a professional off-ramp when my kids were little. I know I would face incredible obstacles if I tried to return to the white-collar world I left. I have a giant employment gap and employers aren’t keen to on-board stay at home moms.
But if I could tout all the Amy Coney Barrett-like parenting I’ve been doing as continuity of professional skills? Hot damn, would I be a desirable candidate. I could talk about what my kids want to do when they grow up and knock the socks off an interviewer just like Barrett did with Republican Senators.
That’s not the case in the real world, though. In the American workforce, work and family life are antagonistic…
