Volume 2 | Issue 3 | July 2010

I N T H I S I S S U E
Message from the Chairman 1 Symposium Success 3
2011 InternaƟonal Conference 1 Interview with Mey Zamora 3
Home Renaissance FoundaƟon´s Partners and Upcoming Research
CollaboraƟons 2 4
In the Media
European Survey of Mothers 2 4
Recommnended Reading

Message from the

Chairman.
I was delighted to welcome both
new faces and old friends to the
main event in this year’’s calendar,
the Barcelona symposium. The
Bryan Sanderson CBE event had mulƟple objecƟves. As
well as the plaƞorm for research

T he key to success and growth

for any organisaƟon is the abil-
ity to distribute its energies eĸ-
ciently between the acƟviƟes it is
carrying out in the present and its
plans for the future. As Chairman,
I believe that the collaboraƟon be-
tween the ScienƟc CommiƩee, the
Directors and the ExecuƟve staī is
evidence that Home Renaissance
FoundaƟon is well on the way to
perfecƟng this skill.
on the work of the home, it was the
venue for the FoundaƟon’’s AGM, a
ScienƟc CommiƩee MeeƟng and a
VIP dinner, all of which, as you will
read elsewhere in this newsleƩer,
produced great fruits.
I have no doubt that the work that
went on in all of these events will
underpin the success of the 2011
Conference. Thank you to
everyone who was involved.

2011 InternaƟonal Conference

Sutainable Living-Professional Appoaches to Housework
By now we hope you will all be familiar with the conference theme and
logo. In fact, we also hope that you will have started speaking to your con-
tacts about it and that you are helping us spread awareness of the confer-
ence by word of mouth.
As the conference is due to take
place in less than nine month’’s Professor Belardinelli is Professor of the Sociology of
Ɵme, announcements and informa- Knowledge and PoliƟcal Sociology at the University of Bo-
Ɵon on the conference will become logna and will be speaking on the inuence the home has
a permanent xture of the news- on social dynamics.
leƩer unƟl it takes place in March
2011.
In this issue of the newsleƩer we Professor Smith teaches Contracts, Employment RelaƟon-
would like to introduce two of the ships, and a seminar on Gender and Work at the University
four keynote speakers who will be of Iowa. She will speak on housework and legal frame-
speaking at the conference: Profes- works for the 2011 conference.
sor Sergio Belardinelli and Profes-
sor Peggie Smith.

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P a t r o n s , P a r n e r s h i p s
a n d C o l l a b o r a t i o n s

Patron Receives CBE

W e are very proud to announce
that our patron, Prue Leith,
has been awarded a CBE in the
Queen’’s Birthday Honours for her
services to catering.

European Survey of Mothers

H RF is proud to promote a European survey prepared by the Eu-

ropean DelegaƟon of the Mouvement Mondial des Mères (World
Movement of Mothers) that aims to represent European moth-
ers’’ prioriƟes, challenges and concerns. The ndings of the survey
will form part of a research project iniƟated by the European Com-
mission enƟtled The Family Plaƞorm. We have been told by the
MMM that they sƟll need more BriƟsh and Irish mothers to take
part in the survey. (To take the survey, go to the MMM website:
www.mouvement-mondial-des-meres.org )

Home Renaissance FoundaƟon’’s Partners

and CollaboraƟons

P artnerships and Collabora-

Ɵons (From leŌ to right): Rino
Snaidero ScienƟc FoundaƟon,
  Mouvement Mondial des Mères,
    
CEU –– Universidad Cardenal Her-
rera, InsƟtuto sobre Drogas y Con-
ductas AdicƟvas, Lexington College,
Universita Campus Bio-Medico
di Roma, Lagos Business School
  
–– Panafrican University, NaƟonal
Family Week, Forum Europeen des
Femmes, Insed Network, IESE Busi-
ness School, Big LoƩery Fund.
    


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P E O P L E

Symposium Success
T he Barcelona symposium that took place last May has been declared a
huge success by organisers and parƟcipants alike. The speakers deliv-
ered presentaƟons that related their area of experƟse to the work of the
home and proposed ways in which the FoundaƟon can promote its aims in
the near future.

T he Symposium gathered an audience of the highest calibre, including

academics, lawyers, entrepreneurs, authors and home managers.

““ We have all experienced that ‘‘home sweet home’’ feeling a person

gets when come home aŌer a long day or a trip. It makes us happy.
The home, then, is the point of reference for individuals and families, and
as such, it is important that we look aŌer it and what makes it special.””
Madame Zaborska, MEP for Slovakia. (For the complete interview or for the
symposium report please see our website.)
Madame Zaborska

Mirella de las Heras

HRF: Your decision to give up your career in journalism and devote

Interview with
Mey Zamora
Mey Zamora is a home manager and
the author of Dulce Hogar: Un retorno
a lo esencial. (Editorial Plataforma)
She was a parƟcipant in the Barcelona
Symposium.
yourself enƟrely to the work of the home might shock many people.
What drove you to make this decision?
MZ: I realised that the home, which is made into a home by the stamp
we put on it through our work and dedicaƟon to it, is important. My
work in the home conssists of doing my utmost to ensure each mem-
ber’’s quality of life. The liberaƟon of women has granted us the right
to choose. Furthermore, unƟl recently, working in the home was not
held in the same esteem as working outside the home.
HRF: You refer to the work of the home as ‘‘hard work’’: do you nd
your work at home diĸcult?
MZ: The work of the home, like other work, is always demanding
because you constantly strive for excellence. You would not be work-
ing if you were doing a sloppy job –– it would not benet anybody to
come home to a house that does not meet a person’’s needs in the
best, most personal way. It is a lot of work, but it is very fullling work
because it creates a peaceful living space.
HRF: How does one achieve excellence in the home?
MZ: As with any other profession you have to keep up to date with
developments in the eld. It is also important to look aŌer the liƩle
things because they usually achieve a greater sense of harmony and
peace in the home. Those of us who choose to work in the home must
do so with enthusiasm. Housework is not a punishment, it is some-
thing we all depend on to live beƩer.

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M E D I A A N D R E S E A R C H

Upcoming Research
With the launch of our new web-
site www.homerenaissancefounda-
Ɵon.org we will also provide access
to two new pieces of research on
the work of the home. The purpose
of this research is to advance the
aim of HRF and strengthen its ef-
forts by trying to understand the
reality of the work of the home
beƩer as well as inuencing the
academic world on this subject.
•• Whose Souls do Bear an Equal Burden of Love: Recognising
the Value of the Work of the Home in Law, by J. Michelle DaƟles.
This study explores the status of unpaid domesƟc labour in the
eyes of the law and suggests models whereby this status could be
improved.
•• Doing our Home Work: Toward an Ecological and Interdis-
ciplinary Approach to the Study of the Work of the Home, by Ann F.
Brodeur. This review examines research carried out by in the social
sciences from the 1950s to the present day.

The Website
Home Renaissance FoundaƟon is proud to announce the
FoundaƟon’’s new website. The new layout is user-friendly and holds
the same high-quality content from the old website within a stylish
new design. There are also some never seen before papers, pictures
and events to look at. Please write to info@homerenaissancefounda-
Ɵon.org with any feedback and, of course, send the link on to your
friends!

““Family and social meals are
among the most powerful
teachers of self-control in the
human repertoire. They teach
that the appeƟte of the mo-
ment is not, or rather ought
not to be, the sole determi-
nant of one’’s behaviour.””
(Theodore Dalrymple, ‘‘Our
Big Problem.’’ The Wall Street
Journal)
In the Media
““Women who experience work-family conict tend to be less saƟsed
with life than housewives. This conclusion holds true for all country rec-
onciliaƟon regimes in Europe...Policies targeted at creaƟng appropriate
condiƟons for parents to combine family life with work may not only bring
about an increase in birth rates and women’’s employment –– both of wich
are pivotal factors in dealing with the profound ageing of the EU popula-
Ɵon –– but should also have a benecial inuence on the general life sat-
isfacƟon of individuals in contemporary socieƟes.’’ (Family life and work:
Second European Quality of Life Survey, by the European FoundaƟon for
the Improvement of Living and Working CondiƟons)

Recomending Reading
For Spanish speakers we recommend Mey Zamora’’s Dulce Hogar: Un re-
torno a lo esencial.
As stated in the introducƟon by Jose Antonio Marina, the book is ‘‘the
account of an act of courage, a pracƟcally reckless life changing decision. It
is the story of a woman who, without fuss but with joy, decides to devote
herself to her family.’’ Mey writes candidly, with great simplicity, and in-
termingles everyday tasks with the important principles that make up the
work of the home.