6 meaningful ways you can support all mamas on Mother's Day
When you set aside the corporate gimmicks and ad campaigns, Mother's Day is simply an opportunity to honor the mom -- or mom-like figure -- in your life for her sacrifices, wisdom, and love.
But it's also a chance to think about motherhood in general and how we can support moms everywhere, regardless of whether they're a blood relation. You can begin by learning more about the various challenges mothers face in the United States and abroad, and then follow-up with action by lending your voice or dollars to an important cause working to reduce or eliminate those disparities.
Here are six ways you can start supporting all moms:
1. Send an inclusive, empathetic card.
The Mother's Day card is a hallmark of the annual holiday, but the language and images featured on many of those cards seems designed for a narrow audience. They also rarely acknowledge the complex feelings that can arise on what's sold as a special, joyous day.
Forward Together, a grassroots nonprofit organization based in Oakland, California,, created five e-cards to reflect "the various ways our mamas and families look. One card reads: "To those nurture movements & affirm our liberation, Happy Mamas Day." Another card includes a drawing of a woman breastfeeding a child under the words "Black mamas powerful like the ocean."
Meanwhile, OptionB, the nonprofit organization and community founded by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg after the death of her husband, wants to help you navigate the complicated emotions of Mother's Day. How, for example, do you acknowledge that Mother's Day can be a painful holiday for some? In addition to expert advice on this and other difficult questions, OptionB has original cards to help you sensitively honor the occasion.
2. Learn about maternal justice.
There's always some risk to childbirth, but black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. You can read more about why here and here.
Patrisse Cullors, cofounder of Black Lives Matter and senior fellow for maternal mortality at the nonprofit advocacy organizations MomsRising, is one high profile activist raising awareness about the health disparities that black women, in particular, endure to become mothers. People can share and read related stories on social media using the hashtag #BirthingWhileBlack.
3. Help free mothers being held on bail.
The National Bail Out movement works to provide cash bail to people awaiting trail who cannot afford to pay the bond for their release. Since the cash bail system disprortionately keeps low-income individuals and people of color in jail, the movement is focused on freeing those from pre-trial incarceration so they can reunite with their families.
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This Mother's Day, National Bail Out is soliciting donations to provide cash bail for mothers being held in jail across the country. The last day to donate to the national campaign for Mother's Day was May 10. However, they also conduct similar campaigns around Father's Day, Pride, Juneteeth, and the winter holidays. Local and regional organizations, including Southerners on New Ground, Philadelphia Community Bail Fund, and the Baltimore Action Legal Team are collecting bail donations as well.
4. Protest immigrant family separations.
It is now official government policy to refer migrants and refugees trying to cross the U.S. border for criminal prosecution. That means immigration officials may more frequently separate parents from the children as a family awaits the long process of learning whether they'll be allowed to stay.
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In one case being handled by the ACLU, a mother and her 7-year-old daughter were separated for four months after they traveled to the U.S. from the Republic of Congo. If this sounds like a mother's worst nightmare come true, the consider signing the ACLU's petition asking the Secretary of Homeland Security to stop separating children from their parents.
5. Help protect federal funding for children's health.
In the week before Mother's Day, the Trump administration proposed rescinding billions of dollars from the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The program ensures that low-income children and pregnant mothers can get medical coverage, and is particularly instrumental for children of color and children with special healthcare needs. While the White House says the funding changes won't impact the program, advocates are worried.
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Millions of children across the country rely on CHIP to stay healthy, so a financial blow to the program may also mean a huge setback for their moms and caregivers. If you don't want to see that happen, call or write your Congressional representative. Without Congress' approval, the Trump administration can't take back the money.
6. Think globally.
Want to help end global poverty? Find ways to support the world's most vulnerable women. You can start by learning more about nonprofit and advocacy organizations like Save the Children and Mercy Corps, which serve women and mothers around the world. Save the Children, for example, gives small business loans to women. Mercy Corps teaches women how to read and helps them develop advocacy skills.
When women everywhere have a path to their own empowerment, we all win.
Topics Activism Social Good
Rebecca Ruiz is a Senior Reporter at Mashable. She frequently covers mental health, digital culture, and technology. Her areas of expertise include suicide prevention, screen use and mental health, parenting, youth well-being, and meditation and mindfulness. Rebecca's experience prior to Mashable includes working as a staff writer, reporter, and editor at NBC News Digital and as a staff writer at Forbes. Rebecca has a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and a masters degree from U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.
