{"id":2647,"date":"2011-05-05T20:58:58","date_gmt":"2011-05-06T01:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlwpen.com\/?p=2647"},"modified":"2011-05-05T20:58:58","modified_gmt":"2011-05-06T01:58:58","slug":"global-mama-mothers-day-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2011\/05\/05\/global-mama-mothers-day-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"GLOBAL MAMA: Mother\u2019s Day Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Just in time for Mother\u2019s Day, Save the Children has published its twelfth annual State of the World\u2019s Mothers Report<\/a>.\u00a0 This report includes the Mothers\u2019 Index<\/strong>, a ranked list of 164 countries around the world.\u00a0 Like last year, Norway tops the list for the best place to be a mother.\u00a0 Afghanistan is worst.\u00a0 The U.S. fell three places, to number 31 on the list.<\/p>\n

In other words, the U.S. ranks closer to the bottom than the top of the 43 developed countries examined in the report.<\/p>\n

Of course, as the report reminds us, the numbers don\u2019t always tell the whole story\u2014an individual mother\u2019s situation can vary greatly within the same country. \u00a0Nonetheless, national-level comparisons do suggest trends and provide overviews that can provide a valuable framework for digging deeper.<\/p>\n

For those of us living in the U.S., these national numbers should give us pause. \u00a0Why didn\u2019t mothers in the U.S. fare better?\u00a0 And why are we falling in the rankings instead of improving?\u00a0 These startling numbers complicate the rosier picture of motherhood and family that many Americans tend to hold.<\/p>\n

The first reason for our low ranking is our maternal mortality rate<\/strong>, an issue I wrote about last month for Girl w\/Pen and Ms<\/a>.\u00a0 As the State of the World\u2019s Mothers Report points out, the U.S.\u2019s rate for maternal mortality is 1 in 2,100\u2014the highest of any industrialized nation. \u00a0In other words, a woman in the U.S. is \u201cmore than 7 times as likely as a woman in Italy or Ireland to die from pregnancy-related causes and her risk of maternal death is 15-fold that of a woman in Greece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other reasons for our low ranking include the under-five mortality rate<\/strong> (forty countries beat us on this one) and the percentage of children enrolled in preschool<\/strong>\u2014only 58%, making us the fifth lowest country in the developed world for educating young kids.<\/p>\n

Finally\u2014surprise, surprise\u2014our country lags in supporting working women with children<\/strong>, and in creating pathways for women to political office<\/strong> nationally:<\/p>\n

The United States has the least generous maternity leave policy\u2014both in terms of duration and percent of wages paid\u2014of any wealthy nation.<\/p>\n

The United States is also lagging behind with regard to the political status of women. Only 17 percent of congressional seats are held by women, compared to 45 percent in Sweden and 43 percent in Iceland.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This report made me feel a lot of different emotions about the state of motherhood in the U.S. as well as globally\u2014shock, anger, outrage\u2014not to mention gratitude. I’m fortunate enough to have healthy kids and privileged enough to be able to pay for things like health insurance and preschool. Given the state of things for many mothers, this is no small potatoes! And yet, the more I thought about this report and my reaction to it, the more I began to think about how important it is to use feelings to propel us to something more\u2014understanding, wisdom, action, and working together.<\/p>\n

This view of motherhood lies at the origins of Mother\u2019s Day.\u00a0 Long before Hallmark made sentimentality synonymous with Mother’s Day and restaurants began the tradition of the Mother\u2019s Day brunch (neither of which I plan to reject come Sunday!), Julia Ward Howe<\/strong> imagined a very different kind of occasion.\u00a0 In her 1870 Mother\u2019s Day Proclamation<\/a>, she called for a day when women could come together and work towards peace.\u00a0 In the aftermath of the violence and carnage of the U.S. Civil War, she called for women to<\/p>\n

\u2026meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.<\/p>\n

Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means<\/p>\n

Whereby the great human family can live in peace…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After grief, counsel.\u00a0 After sorrow, solidarity.\u00a0 After remembrance, action:<\/p>\n

To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,<\/p>\n

The amicable settlement of international questions,<\/p>\n

The great and general interests of peace.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So here\u2019s my Mother\u2019s Day Challenge<\/strong> to myself this year: after enjoying whatever treats my family makes for me, and feeling lots of warm tenderness toward them (note to kids: you will<\/em> be good), and making sure I have time to write in my journal, and calling my own mother on the phone\u2014I\u2019m going to do one thing, one action, toward addressing one of the issues raised by this report.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t decided what, quite yet.\u00a0 But here are some ideas I scribbled down this afternoon, a personal list to start my brain juices flowing:<\/p>\n