Alpha Mummy: la mère blogue aussi dans le Times

Depuis quelques mois, je suis devenue une régulière de ce blogue du Times Online : Alpha Mummy. Alimenté par quatre journalistes et mères de famille (Jennifer Howze, Eleanor Mills, Caitlin Moran et Sarah Vine), ce blogue britannique - qui a vu le jour en 2007 - s'adresse aux mères qui travaillent ainsi qu'à celles qui ont travaillé et qui souhaitent un jour y retourner. Et si vous voulez mon avis, il convient parfaitement à tous les parents, pères ou mères, qui ont envie de se documenter sur la parentalité. Ce que j'aime de ce blogue : la variété des sujets abordés, la rigueur journalistique, la qualité de l'analyse et l'humour de ces dames.

Jennifer Howze, la blogueuse-en-chef, a eu la gentillesse de répondre à quelques questions pour Mamamiiia. J'avais envie d'en savoir un peu plus long sur ce blogue, mais aussi sur la réalité des mères britanniques.

J'ai laissé les réponses de l'entrevue en anglais, mais les questions ont été traduites :


1.What is the story behind your blog? How did you come up with this idea? (Quelle est l'histoire derrière votre blogue? Comment en êtes-vous venue à développer cette idée?)

The blog was originally conceived by several editors who were standing around in the kitchen one day, talking about coping with working parenthood. The idea was to create a blog that addressed the realities of being a working mother (or father) with intelligence and wit. When the Times relaunched its website at the beginning of 2007, we launched the blog as well. There are four of us who contribute to it: I'm the online lifestyle editor, Caitlin Moran and Sarah Vine are columnists for the paper, and Eleanor Mills is the editor of the Times Weekend section.

2. What is your central topic of interest with this blog? (Quel est le principal sujet de votre blogue?)

We've been lucky enough to get a great group of regulars coming to blog and discussing everything from maternity leave to TV characters we fancy. What's nice is that we can talk about the personal aspect of motherhood as well as the bigger issues such as government initiatives, research and pop culture.

3. Why do you feel you have to speak up as mothers?
(Pourquoi croyez-vous important de vous exprimer en tant que mère?)

There are a lot of great blogs out there revealing the personal side of motherhood. What Alpha Mummy aims to do is to create a wider conversation that also takes in the theories, trends, and politics of motherhood.

4. How would you qualify the situation of mothers in the UK? Do you have access to a maternity/parental leave? Is it easy/difficult to have access to quality daycare centre? Are they affordable?
(Comment décrireriez-vous la situation des mères en Grande-Bretagne? Avez-vous accès à un congé de maternité/parental? Est-ce facile /difficile d'avoir accès à des services de garde de qualité? Ces services sont-ils abordables?)

I'm lead blogger on Alpha Mummy and American, so the maternity leave here is much more generous than what I'd heard about in the States (most friends with babies have taken lots of holiday after the birth to give themselves more time at home). New laws have extended maternity leave to a year but it's a hot topic of discussion in politics. There is debate about whether maternity leave ought to be changed to parental leave, with either parent able to take it.

There is more of a culture here of mothers working part-time - it seems to me as an American there is more tolerance for alternatives to working full-time and still being taken seriously.

As for quality childcare, that's an issue no matter where you live, isn't it? Here in the UK people generally use nannies in their own home, childminders who keep several children in the childminder's home, nurseries or some other kind of carer like a grandparent or an au pair. And it's expensive. The UK has some tax benefits for certain types of childcare but if you pay full taxes on all-day childcare, providing a good wage for the person looking after your child, you can pay thousands in taxes every quarter.

5. What would improve the life of mothers in the UK?
(Qu'est-ce qui permettrait d'améliorer la qualité de vie des mères en Grande-Bretagne?)

Affordable childcare, for one. Also, UK businesses don't have a tradition of providing in situ childcare as much as American ones do (although it's hardly ubiquitous there). Would be great if more big companies provided nurseries on site. Additionally, the long British holidays are a hardship for working parents - for example, my daughter's school Easter break was 3 weeks.

Finally, all women much less working mothers would benefit from equal pay.

6. Are dads very much involved ? (Les pères sont-ils impliqués?)

Dads are definitely involved in the blog. While we focus on the experience of mothers (being mums ourselves), we like to include dads and their specific view of parenting, whether as a full-time working dad, part-time worker or stay-at-home dad.

7. Anything else you would like to add? (Qu'aimeriez-vous ajouter?)

Great idea to do email interviews. Thanks for including us!

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On peut aussi suivre les Alpha Mummy sur Twitter.

Thank you very much to the Alpha Mummies :-)