In a sea of endless shit I saw a new mother with her baby on the news.......

[IcedCoffeeToGo]

Ada Vidal.

On Newsnight last night with a sleeping baby in her arms not talking about babies, but talking about racism.

I was bloody amazed and delighted.

I didn't see it! What happened?

Yes give us a clue!

She was on C4 news too. I thought it was ace.

I didn't get to hear much because of the noisy children but in principle I just loved it.

bcove.me/4i9kjsk7 there she is on the channel4 news - small baby, jiggling her, no problem.

The new caster saying it's just anecdotal and asking the white bloke if it's really happening after Ava had spoken about it though - that made me roll my eyes (thank goodness that bloke said 'Absolutely, Yes') - it clearly wound up Ava too.

I saw this in Ch 4 news - the baby was...a baby. All very cute and everything but its just a baby. Is this a strike for feminism?

Unfortunately I didn't find AV a very engaging speaker. Anecdotal evidence of racism is just that...anecdotal. AV was dismissing stats and academic theories but we need stats to try to understand (and therefore address) the underlying causes of racism. Stats can help reduce racist attacks by targeting efforts in the right way.
We can sympathise with anecdotes but that doesn't help reduce racism much in practice.
(And I say this as someone who had 'No EU' shouted at her yesterday).

Not sure where the baby fits into this. She was super cute though.

The baby fits in because she was just there, not mattering in the slightest, a woman, a mother, still with opinions - all too often women and babies are hidden at the back, asked to leave, told to leave the baby at home (which can mean that the mother can't participate at all) - by having her just there, she's showing that it's fine, the baby isn't a problem.

I didn't read her as dismissing the theories as much as dismissing the people who, after hearing what was happening around her, turned to the man on her right and asked if it was really happening - she had just said it was! Just because no-one's counted it yet, doesn't mean it's not happening - my facebook feed is full of my friends getting comments!

The baby bit was good at the fact she was holding it was incidental.

"its just a baby. Is this a strike for feminism? "

Seriously? You don't know why this might be a strike for feminism?

Being allowed to walk into a TV studio, to broadcast without anyone batting an eyelid that she has a baby? To not have the existence and presence of that baby, being used as an excuse to exclude her from the studio, the debate, public life?

You seriously don't know why that might be worthy of comment?

Are you unaware that a woman's status as a mother of young children, has always been used as an excuse to exclude her from public space?

"Are you unaware that a woman's status as a mother of young children, has always been used as an excuse to exclude her from public space?"

No I honestly wasn't aware of that. I don't bring my child to work because it would distract me and be boring for her. I'm not making an anti-feminist statement by it.
On the rare occasion I've brought her in noone has barred me from entering the building or made me feel unwelcome.

In a good way, I didn't really focus on the fact AV was holding a baby, I was too busy listening to what she was saying, as the discussion on racism was more important to me.

Anecdotes are important in relation to racist attacks. Not saying statistics aren't, but if you shut out the voices of people living in fear and under attack that only makes them more marginalised (and can in itself be racist). Same goes for e.g. domestic violence, it's not going to be tackled without hearing from victims and survivors.

Rose - I agree anecdotes are important. As are stats and theory.

The more I think about this the more it seems anti-feminist to laud AV for bringing her baby to the studio rather than for her contribution to the discussion.
To my mind the importance of the interview was i) they'd bothered to include a female contributor (panels are too often men only) and ii) they'd bothered to discuss an issue of national importance.

Doesn't focusing on AV holding her baby imply that women's role as mothers must always be paramount? I'd be pretty annoyed if I'd contributed to an important discussion on national tv (as AV did) and all anyone wanted to talk about was that I happened to take my baby to the studio.

How undermining of the presenter to say "but that's anecdotal isn't it?"
Surely she had been invited to give her personal experience.

Yes, but this thread is not about that: I would guess it's in the Feminism topic because the OP wanted to talk about the change that her bringing a baby with her represents?

Not anecdotal - empirical. This is the lived experience of the woman and her friends. Statistics aren't the only truth.

Well said Annie and Rose. Women's experiences and other oppressed groups experiences have been dismissed for centuries as 'anecdotal'. It's part of what feminism is about - bringing together women and their stories. Joining those dots. Enabling women to understand that they aren't the only women out there to experience prejudice.

Same with racism.

And yes OP it's great to see women casually displayed as caring for a baby and being able to think about important political issues at the same time. We are three dimensional humans after all and we have valid opinions even with a babe in arms. Who'd have thought!

That last paragraph wasn't sarcastic btw. Just reread and could see how it might come across like that!

Well the "Who'd have thought!" bit was sarcastic, obviously.

I was commenting upon the fact that she was there talking about something nothing to do with her baby... With her baby.

Other female journos have already tweeted that they've turned down jobs due to babies.

Obviously the fact she was talking about racism is important. But that wasn't the reason for this post.

i was struck by it too now you say it Iced, but I didn't realise why. You are right, the baby was just there alongside her.

I thought of her as super strong, that no one would have dared to even hint she should not bring her baby. For me, she appeared to be a bit like a Goddess.

They did look foolish when they seemed to disregard what she said, as she was telling what she knew. (I agree with other posters saying statistics are important though too).