April 25, 2007 9:11 PM

Mommy Book Wars
Posted by Diane Danielsonat 9:11 PM

Perhaps we should just forget about the "Mommy Wars" as it's now become the "Mommy Book Wars."  This morning Motoko Rich of the New York Times fired the first salvo with her article about Mommy Books creating controversy but not book sales.  Then, Leslie Bennetts, author of the "Feminine Mistake," responds on the Huffington Post, claiming that Rich left out some pertinent sales figures, and brings to light the New York Times' often controversial stance on working women's issues.

And to add to the fun, Linda Hirshman, the author of “Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World," also had an op-ed piece in the New York Times this morning.

Should we care if women leave the work force? Yes, because participation in public life allows women to use their talents and to powerfully affect society. And once they leave, they usually cannot regain the income or status they had. The Center for Work-Life Policy, a research organization founded by Sylvia Ann Hewlett of Columbia, found that women lose an average of 18 percent of their earning power when they temporarily leave the work force. Women in business sectors lose 28 percent.

And despite the happy talk of “on ramps” back in, only 40 percent of even high-powered professionals get back to full-time work at all.

That the most educated have opted out the most should raise questions about how our society allocates scarce educational resources. The next generation of girls will have a greatly reduced pool of role models.