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At last the American public can read the truth about the so-called "opt out revolution" — but you won't find it in the [newspaper name]. An essay in the March/April edition of the Columbia Journalism Review examines the recent history of news coverage on women, work and family and concludes that reports of women fleeing the professional workforce for the joys of full-time motherhood are misleading, inaccurate and socially irresponsible.

According to E.J. Graff of the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, the problem with the "moms-go-home storyline" is that it presents the incompatibility of work and family as a personal dilemma rather than a public issue — and does so in a way that deflects attention away from the real experiences of average working families. "If journalism repeatedly frames the wrong problem," writes Graff, "the folks who make public policy may very well deliver the wrong solution." In a nation that lags behind every other economically developed country in creating labor and social policies to support working families, this is no laughing matter.

The media like to depict barriers to combining paid work and family life as a woman's problem, but it's everybody's problem. We don't need more trend reporting on affluent, highly-educated mothers who step off the career ladder. The real story is what's going to happen to all of us if lawmakers fail to address the realities of the changing economy, and the needs of the 21st century workforce. Editors and publishers of [newspaper name]: please take note.

A troubling trend has emerged in publications like [newspaper name]. The same narrative is repeated time and again—that career women are "opting-out" of paid work in droves to become stay-at-home mothers. This inaccurate and irresponsible reporting perpetuates damaging stereotypes based on partial truths, blatant misinformation and an elite point-of-view. The real story on women, work and family in the U.S. is far more nuanced.

In the March/April issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, E.J. Graff of Brandeis University challenges the press community to start telling it like it is. Graff argues that by presenting the "moms-go-home" narrative as the national story on working women, "journalism repeatedly frames the wrong problem." And by misinforming our nation's policy makers, legislators may very well "deliver the wrong solution." Like Graff, the National Organization for Women urges reporters and editors to put an end to the "opt-out" myth once and for all.

With all due respect to women and men who are full-time at-home parents, the "opt-out" story ignores the realities most women face. The majority of U.S. mothers simply cannot afford to exit paid work—it would devastate their families financially. Additionally, upper- and middle-income women often are pushed out of their jobs by inflexible work environments that penalize workers who have family responsibilities (not because they blissfully "choose" to leave), while low-income women are expected to work, no matter what the circumstances are.

When millions of working families in the U.S. face a daily struggle to care for children and elderly parents and still make ends meet, we need more stories from [newspaper name] documenting this reality. And these stories should not be relegated to the "Style" section simply because publishers think barriers to combining work and family are a "women's" issue. Economic justice and work/life policy decisions affect everyone.

Women are breaking new ground all around us—Nancy Pelosi as the first female speaker of the House, Hillary Clinton a frontrunner for her party's nomination for president of the United States, the first woman president at Harvard. If only this moment could also serve as the turning point in the media's coverage of mothers and their efforts to balance work and parenting.

Researcher E.J. Graff, in the current issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, skillfully exposes the "The Opt-Out Myth" that news outlets like [newspaper name] have perpetuated for years. The popular storyline claims that more women are abandoning paid work and staying home with their children out of pure choice. This tale is irresponsible for many reasons. First, it is based only on anecdotal information. The women interviewed for these articles are part of a rare demographic that can afford to have only one working parent. In fact, Graff notes that over the last 50 years "the U.S. has seen steady upticks in the numbers and percentages of women, including mothers, who work for wages."

Second, mothers who do flee the workplace often do so out of frustration. As rewarding as motherhood can be, most women would prefer not to give up their careers entirely. The lack of flexibility at work, childcare issues and societal pressures are what make some women get off the fast-track. Meanwhile, the struggle persists for women who simply can't opt-out because they rely on their jobs for a steady paycheck and health insurance.

Truly compelling reporting would dig below women's personal decisions to the impact that public policy and workplace practices have on those decisions. The National Organization for Women is working to break down the barriers that mothers face. We urge [newspaper name] not to create another barrier by spreading misinformation. Please tell the real story—for the sake of every mother and her family.

The [newspaper name] has the power and the duty to help put to rest a pernicious myth—the myth that significant numbers of women are eagerly trading the career track for the mommy track. The media bear the responsibility for peddling this myth to the masses.

With the new article by E.J. Graff in the Columbia Journalism Review ("The Opt-Out Myth") and the well-researched study by Joan C. Williams released last fall ("'Opt Out' or Pushed Out? How the Press Covers Work/Family Conflict"), the truth is out there, and the National Organization for Women urges you to report it.

The media have a long history of advancing narratives that reinforce women's traditional roles in our society. That's why every few years readers are fed the latest "feminism is dead" and "women just want to stay home" storylines. These fantasies comfort those who are anxious about women's progress, and they serve as wagging fingers to women who may stray too far from the 1950s model of family.

Media and policy-makers have been living in the imaginary world of June Cleaver. Millions of women are struggling to balance home life with the necessity of working for wages, and the media do a disservice to women, and their families, when they fail to report the reality of this situation. Instead of blaming themselves for not being superwomen, mothers who are presented with the larger context of the issue might advocate for better work conditions, child care funding and other external solutions. They might actually put some of the responsibility for fostering work/family harmony at the feet of businesses and government.

Perhaps that's why the real story isn't being told. Women armed with too much information might just change the world!

Each time I get an email warning me about someone stealing my kidneys, I send that friend a link to Snopes.com. How I wish they had a section on mommy myths! Then I could send editors to that section each time they publish a story about how educated women are choosing to opt out of the workplace. It would point them to census data that shows we have more moms in the workforce than ever before. It would point out that a very small sample of elite white women are shown as representative of every mother, poor and middle class.

Why does this matter? Because when the media not only perpetuates but creates a myth, it is, as E.J. Graff stated in a recent Columbia Journalism Review article (March/April 2007), misinforming people who create public policy. This leads to either ignoring the ticking care crisis time bomb or even worse creating flawed policy. I am willing to forgive if we can start reading about the cold shoulder moms get from employers when they try to re-enter the workforce and need some flexibility, or those who have to choose between losing their job and picking up their sick kid from school. Newspapers should be reporting facts not creating myths.

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