Mother’s Day 2017

It’s that time of year again when Mother’s Day is upon us. This year, I’ve decided to give a shout out to some moments, driven by individuals, companies, or organizations, that are helping to make some aspects of motherhood more visible:

• This year in the U.K., a company is releasing Mother’s Day cards that deliberately target same-sex parents, allowing some visibility to a too-often-forgotten group.
• The moms of the Black Lives matter movement are helping to make the personal political and spoke at this year’s Democratic National Convention.
• Sheryl Sandberg, enduring a personal tragedy at the loss of her husband, relied on her experience to spread awareness about the challenges of being a single mom in the United States in her new book, Option B. Another book shout out goes to Rebecca Traister’s All the Single Ladies, who provides a really fascinating view into the lives of single mothers, by choice and otherwise.
• For all the moms and grandmothers who used the Women’s March as a chance to teach female empowerment to their daughters and fight back against messages of misogyny, this shout out is for you.
• Thanks goes out to the folks at Hulu for making Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaiden’s Tale popular again, inspiring a new generation to watch, and then read, this cautionary story.
• More thanks to Salary.com for translating a mother’s worth as a salaried number, because some folks need numbers to understand value.
• To Beyoncé and Serena Williams, who continue to inspire discussions about women, pregnancy, and active lifestyles.
• Finally, thanks to the mothers who are not just moving on after the election.

I had fun creating my list; I encourage you to add to this list in the comments so that together we can build on increasing visibility of issues, ideas, and people connected to motherhood.