Happy Mother's Day!
Although it is often cynically stated that Mother's Day was invented by marketers to push increased consumption of flowers and cards, the truth is that it was manifested by one Anna Jarvis, following the death of her own mother in 1905, as a means of honouring the sacrifices mothers make for their children. Her story is fascinating and I encourage you all to read up on her life.
Well over a hundred years later and the day has become a huge opportunity for marketers, while women and mothers still face inequality, carrying a disproportionate share of the labour of raising children and maintaining a home. In the workplace, women and mothers are frequently paid less than their male counterparts doing similar work and quietly punished for having families which might interfere with an unconditional commitment to the workplace and climbing the corporate ladder.
This all is to say nothing of the violence to which women and mothers are all too often subjected. As Margaret Atwood famously stated, "men are afraid that women will laugh at them, women are afraid that men will kill them." Rates of intimate partner violence are still staggeringly high and we should all be doing everything we can to foster a culture where the price for inflicting violence on women is elevated both socially and judicially to the point where the consequences of carrying out such abuse are a much more effective deterrent.
I'm just a farmer, and as such, hardly an expert in fomenting societal change. But I cannot help but think that if we truly wish to honour our mothers, we should be supporting causes and political movements that have as their stated goals the complete equality of women and an end to the systemic patriarchal attitudes that permeate pretty much every facet of our existence.
Sorry men, but the fact is that we have done NOTHING to warrant our privileged positions in this society. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that were more women, and especially mothers, in positions of leadership in business and politics, we would likely live in societies that are more compassionate, more egalitarian, more consensus based and healthier, in every sense of that word.
So by all means, buy your mothers flowers and cards and gifts, take them out for brunch or make a delicious dinner, but do not neglect to do the important work of pushing for real change, in politics and in the business world, that will ensure that mothers, women and girls are able to live lives where they are free to fulfil their full potential without fear.
I know that this might be a difficult subject to read about, but we do not put an end to the injustices in our world by avoiding uncomfortable subjects. We must confront them head on.
Thanks for your patience and understanding in allowing me to convey my thoughts here. I am a brother to five sisters, raised by a mother who made so many sacrifices for her children, and husband to an amazing wife. Women, and mothers especially, make the 'human project' possible. It is time to stop acting like their positions and interests are secondary to those of men. Our future likely depends on it.
Although it is often cynically stated that Mother's Day was invented by marketers to push increased consumption of flowers and cards, the truth is that it was manifested by one Anna Jarvis, following the death of her own mother in 1905, as a means of honouring the sacrifices mothers make for their children. Her story is fascinating and I encourage you all to read up on her life.
Well over a hundred years later and the day has become a huge opportunity for marketers, while women and mothers still face inequality, carrying a disproportionate share of the labour of raising children and maintaining a home. In the workplace, women and mothers are frequently paid less than their male counterparts doing similar work and quietly punished for having families which might interfere with an unconditional commitment to the workplace and climbing the corporate ladder.
This all is to say nothing of the violence to which women and mothers are all too often subjected. As Margaret Atwood famously stated, "men are afraid that women will laugh at them, women are afraid that men will kill them." Rates of intimate partner violence are still staggeringly high and we should all be doing everything we can to foster a culture where the price for inflicting violence on women is elevated both socially and judicially to the point where the consequences of carrying out such abuse are a much more effective deterrent.
I'm just a farmer, and as such, hardly an expert in fomenting societal change. But I cannot help but think that if we truly wish to honour our mothers, we should be supporting causes and political movements that have as their stated goals the complete equality of women and an end to the systemic patriarchal attitudes that permeate pretty much every facet of our existence.
Sorry men, but the fact is that we have done NOTHING to warrant our privileged positions in this society. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that were more women, and especially mothers, in positions of leadership in business and politics, we would likely live in societies that are more compassionate, more egalitarian, more consensus based and healthier, in every sense of that word.
So by all means, buy your mothers flowers and cards and gifts, take them out for brunch or make a delicious dinner, but do not neglect to do the important work of pushing for real change, in politics and in the business world, that will ensure that mothers, women and girls are able to live lives where they are free to fulfil their full potential without fear.
I know that this might be a difficult subject to read about, but we do not put an end to the injustices in our world by avoiding uncomfortable subjects. We must confront them head on.
Thanks for your patience and understanding in allowing me to convey my thoughts here. I am a brother to five sisters, raised by a mother who made so many sacrifices for her children, and husband to an amazing wife. Women, and mothers especially, make the 'human project' possible. It is time to stop acting like their positions and interests are secondary to those of men. Our future likely depends on it.
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