Mother’s Day Campaign 2003: Making Mothers Count

This year was Mothers & More’s first Mother’s Day Campaign.

The goal of the campaign was to bring mothers together as a group and to make their unpaid caregiving work visible. Our society cannot hope to address women’s needs without addressing mothers’ needs, and society will not address mothers’ needs until mothers get involved.

Most women become mothers during their lives, spending enormous amounts of time, energy and resources caring for their children. Most mothers also do some type of paid work, modifying their workforce participation over time to meet their needs and the needs of their children and family.

On Mother’s Day, cards and flowers make the work of mothers appreciated for a single day of the year. Yet for the other 364 days, the work of caring is invisible. In the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), it’s invisible. To Social Security and the Bureau of Labor statistics, invisible. We are a country in which paid work is valued above all else, and since it is mothers who do the overwhelming majority of unpaid caregiving work, it is mothers who are paying the price.

Activities

• Mothers & More created buttons for every member to wear and to share that said “I’m a mother. I Care. I Work. I Count.” (see left)
• Small cards with compelling facts were distributed with the buttons. (see left)
• Chapters held special meetings, sent letters to the editor, and provided buttons to members to wear and share with others. 55 events in 22 states were conducted.

POWER Plan Announced

As part of its first Mother’s Day Campaign, Mothers & More announced its POWER Plan - a list that details the changes we want to see in public policy, private practice and cultural attitudes and how the organization will contribute to the effort of securing social and economic equality for mothers.

The POWER Plan was a result of careful consideration of the many societal, governmental and business practices that adversely affect mothers, how they relate to Mothers & More's mission and beliefs, and which issues were most universally urgent to the organization’s members. The POWER Plan calls for redefining "work" such that unpaid caregiving is treated as having equal social and economic value to paid work and for reorganizing all forms of work to reflect that definition. The POWER Plan outlines three main areas of focus for educating, advocating, and calling for direct action. Read the POWER Plan in its entirety for more details. 

Mom Metrics

• 81% of American women will become mothers.
• 69% of mothers work for pay in addition to providing 2/3 of all unpaid family care.
• Unpaid caregiving is not counted as work in the Gross Domestic Product.
• Women spend an average of 11.5 years out of the workforce, careing for children or elderly parents. For each year out of the workforce, a mother receives 0 credit toward Social Security benefits.
• Among young women and men without children, women now make 98% of men’s wages. Yet, mothers make 73% or less of the wages of all others in the workforce.
• Of the world’s wealthiest nations, on 2 – The U.S. and Australia – do not provide paid parental leave for full-time employees.