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Mr. President,

I would like to start off this letter by congratulating you on your election victory, and let you know that my thoughts are with you during this time when you will be expected to reverse so many of the problems we have acquired over the past eight years and beyond. As you begin to establish ideas for new policies and readjustments within our social systems, I encourage you to think about issues affecting mothers across this country. In particular, working class mothers. While in the past these women have faced much oppression in the forms of (to list a few) economic disparity, unfair divisions of labor which force them to both work in and out of the house without recognition, decreased access to educational opportunities, unaffordable health care and child care for their families, and an unjustifiable sexist and racist stigmatization of “lazy and bad motherhood� enacted by welfare reform and other public policy disasters, I demand that you bring these issues to the forefront of your decision making to enable real, positive change.

If we are to go forward in this society that places so much weight on the reproductive capabilities of women, we must also recognize the unfair demands that our culture places on women trying to raise children. Public programs and social systems must be put in place that provide women with the appropriate support to allow them the best opportunities to create and maintain healthy, safe families. Whether “normative� families or not, women should get the same amount of assistance and encouragement to do so.

In response to something you said in a recent speech, I too agree that men need to be encouraged to be better fathers. Thank you for being one of the only male politicians that has said so. It is the responsibility of the entire community to care for children and families. Women cannot do it all alone, and they have been trying to for far too long. The support of the government becomes vital to the success of families. Enacting social programs that make financial stresses like childcare, healthcare, housing, transportation and education less damaging is just a start. In addition, we need to re-imagine the ways we think of “good� mothers. Traditional, nuclear families should not be the only model of success. We must uplift single mothers, poor mothers, mothers of color, abused mothers, disabled mothers and young mothers to stop the cyclical nature of oppression.

For the sake of women and families everywhere, please consider these thoughts as you make important decisions throughout the next four years.

Thank you and good luck,

Corrie Halladay