Family Futures

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Making mothers matter

Florence von Erb, President, Make Mothers Matter

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n the 2010 Survey of Mothers in Europe, Make Mothers

Matter (MMM) asked mothers to give a description

of their transition into motherhood. In answer to the

question, ‘what does it mean to become a mother?’, one

respondent replied: “Before it was just ME; now I am US.”

The birth of a child constitutes a major and irreversible change

in focus, priorities and life-course. One never again sees life

as one did before becoming a mother.

This transformation is

experienced by all mothers in the world, rich or poor, married

or single, young or old. It alters the perspectives of women for

the rest of their lives as they face new realities and challenges.

Globally, it is estimated that over 75 per cent of women of

child-bearing age are mothers.

Believing that no one should presume to speak for them,

MMM strives to listen to mothers’ voices around the world and

amplify their message. Its advocacy work is complemented

by workshops where mothers share their best practices, diffi-

culties and invaluable knowledge of dealing with the daily

commitment of being the best ‘us’ they can be.

MMM has found that mothers do not feel they have the

support to achieve the difficult task of reconciling work and

family life, and they also continue to crave the recognition

that their work at home – their unpaid care-giving – is as

valued and respected as work outside the house.

In her book,

The Price of Motherhood

Ann Crittenden states:

“as the twenty-first century begins, women may be approach-

ing equality, but mothers are still far behind. Changing the

status of mothers by gaining real recognition for their work

is the great unfinished business of the women’s movement”.

The difference in achievement between mothers and child-

less women has prompted researchers and sociologists to talk

about the ‘family pay gap’ or the ‘mommy penalty’ (the wage

inequality between women with children and those without).

A study showed that by the late 1990s American women

without children were earning 90 per cent of men’s wages,

while similar aged women with children were making the

equivalent of only 70 per cent.

Were the analogous statistic

available for other countries, it is highly probable that this

gap – if not a larger one – would apply to most women in

the world. How is this discrepancy explained?

The MMM ‘Realities of Mothers in Europe’ study

showed

that the majority of mothers – 64 per cent – wish or need

to combine paid employment with family care, while only

11 per cent express preference for a full-time career (the

remaining 25 per cent wish to be full-time homemakers).

Similarly, in the United States, the labour force participation

rate (per cent of the population working or looking for work)

for all mothers with children under the age of 18 stood at

70.5 per cent in 2012.

According to the 2012 International

Labour Organization report on ‘Global employment trends for

women’, women’s participation in transition economies is well

above 50 per cent, while in the Middle East, North Africa and

South Asia, the number falls below 35 per cent (in the formal

economy). In summary, when allowed to, most women want

or need to participate in the workforce.

MMM’s research shows that this participation is not linear.

There is a pattern to the seasons in the life of most mothers:

seasons when family concerns call for more presence and

investment in their children or elders, and seasons when they

feel free to work longer hours outside the home. This pattern

is often disregarded or altogether dismissed by policymakers

and companies who, favouring economic growth over labour

market needs and wishes, contribute to the cycle of unequal

work opportunities and wealth distribution.

Most mothers want the possibility to commit service away

from their children

only when they are satisfied that their chil-

dren will not be diminished by the diversion of their focus.

Much has been written about the conflicts experienced by

working mothers in industrialized countries, and the debate

seems only to have intensified in the last decade with the

discourse of work and family all too often presented in polar-

Mothers around the world face the difficult task of reconciling work with

caring for a family

Image: MMM