'Stay at home moms' debate excludes black women

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Ann Romney has become the newest spokesperson for stay at home moms. Yet the national president of Mocha Moms, a stay at home group for black women, says that the role is always seen as one white women hold, when this is not the case. Kuae Mattox says that African-American stay at home moms are discriminated against and misunderstood in the process by this expectation. The “Mocha Moms” in her group say that often they are mistaken for nannies and many are judged by their own families for their choices. BuzzFeed reports:

When Kuae Mattox — the national president of Mocha Moms, a support group for stay-at-home moms of color — was growing up in Philadelphia, being a stay-at-home mom was seen as “something that white women did.” That’s changing, but this year’s most famous stay-at-home mom so far has been a white woman, Ann Romney. And the arguments surrounding Romney’s choices — and whether stay-at-home mothering can be feminist — don’t really resonate with black moms.

One issue that does: isolation. Historically, black moms have been about half as likely to stay home as moms of other races, so it’s a struggle for those who do so to meet moms who look like them. And in communities where most stay-at-home moms are white, black moms can face misunderstanding and discrimination.

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