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Celebrating Mother's Day
Linda Gehman Peachey In our home, one of the traditions for Mother's Day is breakfast in bed. My daughters and husband go to great lengths to make a lovely meal of pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream, and then bring it to me, complete with coffee and flowers from our garden. It is a great tradition and one I look forward to each year. It is wonderful to be acknowledged and appreciated as a mother. Yet, for many mothers, I'm afraid this day may feel rather hollow. While the flowers and meals are welcome, these gestures do not make up for the labor and effort that is often taken for granted throughout the rest of the year. Twenty years ago, Marilyn Waring wrote the book Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women are Worth (2nd edition, University of Toronto Press, 1999.) As a Member of Parliament in New Zealand, she began to notice that much of the work which women do (and especially mothers) is not recognized or valued in the international economic system. Indeed, all unpaid work is invisible and of little consequence in this system. For capitalism values only those activities which earn or exchange money. These may be destructive enterprises, such as pornography, war-making or environmental exploitation. But they are still counted as "productive" because they add "value" to the national economy. Meanwhile, the work of gardening, preserving food, and caring for children and elderly parents is considered "unproductive" because no money exchanges hands. This is not "waged" work. Similarly, the earth's resources are not valued for their own sake but only when they can be exploited and turned into profit. As Waring explains, this economic system "…pays no heed to the preservation of natural resources or the labour of the majority of its inhabitants or to the unpaid work of the reproduction of human life itself - as well as its maintenance and care. The system cannot respond to values it refuses to recognize." (Waring, 3) Even worse, this system devalues women. Their person and labor are often considered free for the taking; their place is to give and to serve. Like the earth, they can be used and abused. Since 1999, the group Global Women Strike has been organizing for "a world which values all women's work and all women's lives." Their central demand is:
We may state our concerns differently or use other approaches to these issues. What is important, however, is to begin envisioning a world in which women and mothers — and the caring, life-sustaining work they do — is truly valued. Such a world would truly celebrate and honor our mothers. Top |
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