TO THE EDITOR:
Mother’s Day has come and gone, complete with a mandate to shower mothers with gifts.
I’m all for celebrating mothers. What I’m not here for is the equation of femininity with consumerism: the idea that buying things for mothers will make up for all the violence and degradation that women have to put up with for the rest of the year.
Black women make $0.64 to every $1.00 that white men makes. How can we claim that we love mothers in a culture that turns away when millions of women, particularly trans women and women of color, are raped, abused, and murdered at horrific rates?
I want to see a movement towards Nurturers Day, which recognizes the labor of caregivers belonging to all gender identities and celebrates the act of nurturing.
So this year, in addition to making cards for the caregivers in your life, think about the ways you can take action to ensure justice for them too. If you say that you love mothers, then you should support a politics that doesn’t marginalize them.
Sarah Pederson
Class of ’15
