Running for City Council: On Leaning In And Being a Mother

Spanish Version.

I finally read Sheryl Sandberg’s relatively short book: Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. Not unsurprisingly it was a lot more nuanced than what the discussions would have led anyone to believe. One of the statistics noted is “of 197 heads of state, only 22 are women.” Another is that in politics in the US, women hold just 18% of congressional offices. Fortunately on the Redwood City Council things are a bit better; however Mothers which most women are are usually given short shrift.

Being a Mother is being the boss. When that baby is crying in your hands, when that toddler is trying to stand up, when that teenager is out partying late; the mom is the decider in chief. The decider in chief has to figure out whether the baby is crying because it is wet, because it is hungry or for some other reason and solve the problem fast. The decider in chief has to help the toddler stand up, learn to walk, learn to run, learn what to put into his or her mouth and so on and so forth. There isn’t a decision that a mother in chief doesn’t have to make.

The challenges of being a mother in chief range from the financial, the operational, to even the marketing of the family. What does my family stand for? How much explaining will I do both internally and externally. Am I a tiger mom or a koala mom?

Some people might think that given that most women will become mothers being a mother means nothing; but the reality (not for all for sure but for the vast majority) for a lot of mothers is that they give of themselves in ways they never thought they would, they care in ways they never thought they would and they fight in ways they never thought they would. There is a reason we talk about the protective mama bear; while she may not fight for things for herself, she will fight for things for her baby.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has achieved changes that other groups did not. There are mother’s groups like Mothers Against Senseless Killings (MASK), Mothers Against Guns (MAG) and more that every day use the energy that motherhood generates to help and change the world.

And yet now that I am running for City Council and I talk to a lot of professional campaign managers and government operators, the minute they hear that my ballot designation is MOTHER they almost write me off. There is this presumption that in government MOTHERS cannot win. That in fact it is better to leave the field blank then to say you are a Mother. That being a business person is a better designation even though most business people fail then to state that you are a mother when most mothers succeed.

For me the reason, I chose Mother is because that is the reason I am running. I am not running for City Council for me, I am running for my children. My children want to stay and live in this community and I am not sure that the direction Redwood City is currently going in is sustainable and will allow my children to stay here. As a mother, I will fight to make Redwood City a place that that not only my children can stay in but also everyone else.