Jill Salzman in The New York Times!

“I’m a mother, and I run a business: The Founding Moms, the world’s first and only kid-friendly collective of meet-ups for mom entrepreneurs. I’m a mom, and an entrepreneur: a mompreneur (or a momtrepreneur, a word I like even better). And I’m proud of it.

Others, though, aren’t exactly embracing the term. An editor at a very popular business magazine told me that while he’d be happy to discuss what I do, his magazine “has a firm ban on the term ‘mompreneur’.” Even many women business owners insist that the word is derogatory, and even demeaning.

The Grindstone’s Lindsay Cross wrote a blog post called I Hate Mompreneurs But I Support Women in Business. The word “mompreneur,” she argued, marginalizes entrepreneurs who are also mothers. “In a world where business owners are expected to prove total dedication to their product, their possible-stockholders and their bottom line, it makes sure that everyone knows that these women have other priorities.”

But in an age of Internet transparency, social media and in particular Facebook, where people reveal their habits and their lives constantly, why must the kids be kept a secret?  What’s the advantage of hiding the role of motherhood?  I get that people prefer facades.  Their desire to appear professional overrides the truth of their day-to-day lives.  Whoever decided that “professionalism” meant “devoid of parenthood” was clearly not living in the reality that the rest of us are. It’s true that a few people don’t think mothers belong in business. But when we reject the “mom” label, we’re missing an opportunity to change their minds.”

Read the full article here.

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