How long must women wait for liberty?

This question was posed to President Woodrow Wilson by the suffragists of the early 1900's and we have yet to have that question answered.

Liberty, by definition, means freedom from captivity; the freedom to do as one pleases--free. The question of the day is "Mr. President, how long must women wait for emancipation?" Emancipation is freedom from restraint, especially social or political restraint. Mothers are socially restrained and held captive by social standards that offer little in the way of alternatives.

Are woman truly free? Does a mother raising a child or children look at all like a father performing the same tasks? Upon retirement, do the payoffs for mothers and fathers look the same? Upon divorce, do the responsibilities of the mother and the father look the same? Are they carried through in the same manner or is the scale tipped?

We know these answers but what do we do with them? How do you boycott mothering? How do you take that final stand? Perhaps we just get buck-wild militant. Dare we post placards in our front yard serving notice that we are un-compensated for the work we are doing on the inside--that we are in possession of future tax-paying citizens...but then what do we do with that? Threaten to warp their minds or neglect their needs? Do you see the perversion in this problem? There is virtually no recourse! I am weary of having my love for my children exploited so that the cycle may go on.

I am held tight by the "balls"--so are most mothers, we should not have to secure a man in our lives so that we might have financial security. We should not even have to crawl into a social service office with our heads bowed. We certainly should not have to raise children so the current free-loaders might secure retirement AT OUR EXPENSE. For the price of our tears, our times, our lives, our gains, our senses, our selves--we produce and offer up the next generation AND FOR WHAT?

I love my children. Their laughs, their highs and lows. I love their voices and their minds. I love their little bodies and the way every part of them is miniature and new. I love their hearts and their souls. I love their songs and passions. I especially love to watch them sleep, the way their precious lips part and their chest rises and falls--full of the life I have given them. When we are together, I am free and liberated by their love and affection and adoration, afterall, I am mommy--supreme in their eyes for now. I need their hugs, happiness, breath...they have given me what I would have never had in their absence and my heart and life are FULL.

I don't want to price tag the hugs, kisses, laughs and songs but I don't want my efforts or their fruits disregarded as private and therefore invisible. What is the middle ground?