Shanta Trivedi on "Supreme Mom Guilt" in Ms. Magazine

Shanta Trivedi writes for Ms. Magazine The Supreme Mom Guilt is Real: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and Motherhood. 

The struggles of employed motherhood in a society that is not built to support mothers (formal wage-earners or stay-at-home moms) has been documented time and again. But, in many ways, what Jackson was expressing is unique to Black women. Black women have historically been more likely to be a part of the workforce than their white counterparts. Black women and other women are color are also more likely to do work that supports white women’s ability to work outside the home, such as caregiving and housecleaning. And, for many Black women, they are the “only” of both their gender and race at work, putting even more pressure on them in already complicated work settings where they regularly face microaggressions, harassment or blatant misogynoir—the toxic, combined discrimination against Black females.

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All mothers feel pressure to be perfect and the judgment that they face is real, but Black mothers face a microscope unlike no other, particularly when compared to the upper-middle class white version of Pinterest and Etsy-fueled parenting. In the midst of an exercise designed to scrutinize her and her life, despite her perfect resume, she highlighted her perceived imperfection as a parent. But perhaps there is no better evidence to the contrary than from her own children.