From the editor
Ilove magazines. Always have. I grew up with Fairlady and Sarie in the house and my parents have had a subscription to National Geographic for longer than I’ve been alive. Even before I could read, I can remember lying on the carpet in the lounge poring over the pictures of exotic locations and people. During primary school I cut up many old issues for school projects.
On my first day of journalism class I argued with my lecturer when he said no-one reads NG; we just look at the pictures. I read it, I insisted. Vogue is another story. Now there’s a mag no one reads. I used to buy stacks of old issues of Vogue when I was a student, simply to drool over the photography and art. The cover they did with an illustration of Nelson Mandela still lives in a frame in my house; one of my prized possessions.
When I moved cities my mom gave me my own subscription to National Geographic. I marvel at how that intrepid yellow frame in the brown paper bag always makes it to my house, despite our unreliable postal service.
The latest cover really excited me. WOMEN, it said. A century of change. Yes! What a worthy subject to put under the microscope, I thought.
But for the first time ever, the magazine left me more than a little perturbed. I’ve paged and searched in vain to find myself and my friends and sisters reflected in those pages. What I found: Twenty two pages on women as soldiers, and not a single page on women as mothers. Not one graph, not one pie chart, and barely a quote or photograph depicting motherhood. How is this possible, given that the magazine was produced entirely by women? Surely a good portion of the planners and contributors would have been mothers. And if not, why not?
So, as soon as I’ve finished writing this letter to you, I intend to write my first ever letter to an editor to ask her why motherhood was ignored. I want to know if it was an unintended oversight or a deliberate decision. I really am curious. It’s not news to women that we can do everything men can do, but why ignore the one thing we can do that men can’t?
I firmly believe the best thing that could happen for future generations is for motherhood to be revered. Maybe that’s why I get so much satisfaction and joy out of my work as a parenting editor with an amazing readership of mothers and mothers to be.
Do you agree? Please share your thoughts and write us a letter!
PS Speaking of magazines… this is the last issue of Your Baby magazine in its current format. From April onwards we are joining forces with our sister magazine to bring you an even bigger and better read with lots of treats in the bag. Be on the lookout for Your Pregnancy & Baby on shelf from 16 March. My promise to you is that motherhood will continue to be front and central, where it belongs.