Honor Mom on Sunday… and on Mother’s Monday Get Her What She Really Needs: Childcare and Workplace Improvements
The Inaugural Mother’s Monday officially kicks off May 11!
Celebrated on the day after the traditional Mother’s Day, Mother’s Monday looks to redefine the relationship between motherhood and work. One of the major storylines emerging from the global pandemic is just how significant the impact has been on women, especially working moms. The group behind the celebration, The National Advisory Committee for Mother’s Monday, believes that the day is about building a culture that promotes equity and reduces the load put on women as the primary caregivers in our society.
“Mother’s Monday is about lifting up examples of companies, organizations, and innovations which reduce barriers that mothers and caregivers face as they balance a multitude of roles” said Gayatri Agnew, mother of two young children from Arkansas.
Now a rapidly-building movement, Mother’s Monday is a call to action for Moms that are rightfully impatient with the current rate-of-progress toward improving their world. Working women, elected female leaders, and stay-at-home moms throughout the country are already organized into hundreds of groups where they work, where their kids go to school, in their neighborhoods, and through civic engagement. “We want to remind policy-makers and corporate leaders of the critical role that care-giving plays in our economy,” said Agnew.
Mother’s Monday is led by a national advisory committee of business leaders, activists, researchers and entrepreneurs. It’s a coalition built to ensure motherhood and work can thrive within the realities of modern American life. ModernMom’s own associate editor, Christine Michel Carter, will participate in a Twitter chat about how we can work together to redefine motherhood and work.
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Innovation plays a key role in this movement. “For too long, the work that women do in their households while working outside of the home was invisible. We need to make it visible — and to provide the infrastructure via both policy and innovative companies to support them. We estimate that doing so is more than a half-a-trillion-dollar opportunity.” Said Jen Koss co- founder of Springbank Collective a coalition of values-aligned investors, corporations and non- profits to eliminate the gender gap. In the past few years, a surge of companies has taken up the task of reducing barriers for caregivers and mothers. Among them are, Mamava, designers of lactation suites for breastfeeding moms on the go, make the world a friendlier place for women to breast pump or breastfeed. Milk Stork, refrigerated breast milk delivered to homes from anywhere in the world. Mahmee, to fix the dangerous gaps in Prenatal and Postpartum Care. The Mom Project (TMP) a digital talent marketplace that connects accomplished women with world-class companies. Founder of TMP Allison Robinson shared why this work is so important “As business leaders and public policy makers we must stand up to create more flexible, inclusive workplaces and family-friendly policies to truly commit to the success of working parents. Our future leaders and the success of future generations fundamentally depend on our swift and sustained action.”
Built online (“typically in the hour that follows bedtime and the wee hours before the kids are awake” said Agnew), Mother’s Monday leaders have leveraged one another’s professional and social networks to champion and enable career mothers. “Moms who didn’t know one-another a month ago started this movement, we had hoped it would result in one event this coming Monday, but as of today we have 11 events. The need for this day has resonated with so many people,” she said.
The full schedule of Mother’s Monday Stay-at-Home Events on May 11th can be found here. Follow #MothersMonday on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
