Greta Gerwig deserves more than an Oscar for portrayal of motherhood in 'Barbie'

Greta Gerwig, who directed “Barbie,” deserves more from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences than exclusion from its list of best director nominees.

While Oscar voters didn't consider Gerwig's work good enough for a nomination, her delicate rendering of the female experience is more than enough for appreciative fans.

One idea in particular that Gerwig gently weaves into the movie is the notion that women are made for more than professional success − namely, motherhood − but achieving that level of self-actualization in the modern American workplace and society at large isn’t without obstacles.

Greta Gerwig treated pregnant Midge with respect

Gerwig brilliantly captures this part of the female struggle when Will Ferrell’s character, the CEO of doll manufacturer Mattel, travels to Barbieland and cringes when crossing paths with Midge, a pregnant Barbie so controversial in real life that she was temporarily pulled from store shelves. 

Barbieland, implies Gerwig, isn’t all rainbows and butterflies.

Instead, Barbieland falls short of the ideal for those women who want to lean into their biology – for the women who want it all instead of forgoing children and #girlbossing their way from cubicle to corner office.

Sadly, the same is true of the real world. Take, for example, the recent Kyte Baby fiasco, in which the CEO of a baby-products company denied a mother's request to work from home to care for her newly adopted premature baby, who was fighting for his life in a neonatal intensive care unit.

The lesson from all of this?

Our society has a long way to go in accepting women for their intelligence and their biology. Instead of discouraging pregnancy through an overemphasis on reproductive rights and rigid work rules, lawmakers should protect would-be moms.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent comment citing parents' concern that college-age women lack abortion rights, however, impedes progress on this front. Our leaders should instead champion policies that empower women to balance work and motherhood.

Instead of reflexively pointing pregnant women to abortion facilities, for example, lawmakers should address the hurdles that discourage pregnancy and otherwise make it difficult for women to carry their babies to term. That can be achieved in a number of ways.

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A good place to start is abortion advocates’ own research. The Guttmacher Institute reports that three of the most common reasons women seek abortion are fear that they can’t afford a baby, fear a baby would interfere with school or work, and fear of raising a baby alone. 

Policy changes can help mothers in the workplace

To allay these fears, lawmakers could roll out private-public partnerships to expand maternity-leave programs, increase the availability of flexible spending accounts to pay for child care and, through tax incentives, encourage work-from-home arrangements, which now are shrinking post-pandemic.

Ultimately, in a world where women are having fewer kids than they desire and having those kids later in life, it’s critical that lawmakers take these recommendations to heart. Only then can women build their own version of Barbieland before age and disease eclipse their hope for the future.

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What’s more, for all the "self-actualization" talk and "be what you want to be" mumbo jumbo, perhaps the most disenfranchising title a woman can earn in 21st century America is "Mom."

That needs to change, and Gerwig deserves more than an Oscar for advancing that conversation.

Carolyn Bolton is communications and marketing director for DonorsTrust, a mission-focused giving-account provider. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.