[ The 19th century origins of Mother’s Day differ vastly in
spirit and purpose from celebrations of it in the 20th and 21st
centuries. The first public “Mother’s Day for Peace” rally was
in New York City on June 2, 1872, anf has only grown more urgent.]
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DEEPENING MOTHER’S DAY  
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H Patricia Hynes
May 7, 2023
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_ The 19th century origins of Mother’s Day differ vastly in spirit
and purpose from celebrations of it in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The first public “Mother’s Day for Peace” rally was in New York
City on June 2, 1872, anf has only grown more urgent. _

The original Mother’s Day proclamation…(PAX CHRISTI USA
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Mother’s Day was first inspired by two women with diverse but
compatible social and political purposes.  Prior to the Civil War,
Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia organized “Mothers’ Day Work
Clubs” to teach women the basics of sanitation in food preparation
and drinking water in a time of high infant and child mortality. 
After the war, she organized “Mothers Friendship Day,” bringing
mothers of sons who fought on both sides of the Civil War “to
promote reconciliation
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daughter Anna Jarvis carried her mother’s legacy forward and
convinced President Wilson to establish the second Sunday in May as
Mother’s Day.  Jarvis became so disillusioned eventually with what
she saw as the commercial sentimentalizing of and profiteering from
Mother’s Day by the card, food and floral industries that she
disowned [[link removed]] it.

 

The first public “Mother’s Day for Peace” rally was held in New
York City on June 2, 1872 at the inspiration of Julia Ward Howe, an
ardent anti-war activist and promoter of world peace.  Her 1870
Mother’s Day Proclamation passionately lamented the futile deaths in
war and heralded action to stop future wars: 

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_ARISE THEN_
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WOMEN OF THIS DAY! ARISE, ALL WOMEN WHO HAVE HEARTS…_

_OUR SONS SHALL NOT BE TAKEN FROM US TO UNLEARN ALL THAT WE HAVE
TAUGHT THEM OF CHARITY, MERCY AND PATIENCE…_

_WE WOMEN OF ONE COUNTRY WILL BE TOO TENDER OF THOSE OF ANOTHER TO
ALLOW OUR SONS TO BE TRAINED TO INJURE THEIRS._

_FROM THE BOSOM OF THE DEVASTATED EARTH, A VOICE GOES UP WITH OUR OWN.
 IT SAYS, ‘“DISARM, DISARM!”’…_

Her Proclamation concluded calling for a congress of women
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promote the “amicable settlement of international questions and the
great and general interests of peace_.”_

This theme of engaging women across the world for peace has only grown
more urgent.  Try Googling “photos of negotiating to end war in
Ukraine,” recommends Margot Wallstrom
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Sweden’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs: women are largely
absent.  Despite a more than 20-year-old UN Resolution 1325 on Women,
Peace and Security that promotes including women “in all efforts for
the promotion of peace and security, less that 10 percent of peace
agreements have female signatories,” she states.  Yet, research
shows that with “more women involved in peace processes, more
proposals are put on the table and agreements reached last longer.”

 

In my 2018 interview with Nigerian lawyer, mediator, peace activist
and member of WILPF [[link removed]] Ayo Ayoola-Amale
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she underscored the critical impact of women in peace negotiations. 
“The Liberian 2011 Nobel Prize laureate Leymah Gybowee, together
with Christian and Muslim women, pressured warring parties into the
2003 negotiations that eventually ended years of horrific war in
Liberia.  Research has shown,” she added, “that where women’s
inclusion is prioritized, peace is more probable, especially when
women are in a position to influence decision making…Women take an
inclusive approach whether it is stopping conflict, contributing to
peace processes, or rebuilding their societies after conflict or
war.”

 

RESTORING POLITICAL ROOTS TO MOTHER’S DAY

For the 8th consecutive year, the Black Mamas Bail Out Initiative
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is posting bond on and near Mother’s Day for Black mothers in jail,
women languishing in “cages” without a trial because they are too
poor to post bail.  Their action has highlighted the profiteering of
the bail bonds industry and inspired nationwide community action.
  The US puts more women in jails
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and prisons than any other country in the world.  And while
comprising roughly 6% of the US population, Black women make up 22% of
women’s imprisoned
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population.  Most are arrested for low-level drug use, some on false
charges; and most are mothers.  Support
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Bailout Fund this Mother’s Day.

Postscript

I learned recently that “More phone calls
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Mother’s Day than any other day of the year.”  And I understand
why.  As a child, I loved giving my mother a card and a present on
Mother’s Day as an expression of my love and respect for her; and
after leaving home, I always called her on Mother’s Day.  Now I
look forward to honoring my sisters, cousins and nieces as the
wonderful mothers they are.  But even more urgent is restoring the
spirit of our original Mother’s Day – calling for World Peace, a
call that is loud, persistent, insistent, public and passionate.

Let us also remember that mothers wake up the morning after Mother’s
Day to their social, economic and political realities: poverty and
food insecurity for almost 25% of single mothers; doing most of the
unpaid domestic and caregiving work at home; pay discrimination;
sexual violence for 1 in 4 women and widespread sexual harassment. 
Rampant injustice that our society and the world must undo if we are
ever to achieve peace.

 

_[PAT HYNES is a board member of the Traprock Center for Peace and
Justice and member-at-large of Women’s International League for
Peace and Freedom.  Her recent book, Hope, But Dmand Justice, is
available in bookstores.]_

* Mother's Day
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* peace
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* Women
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* mothers
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* war
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* Ukraine war
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* Russia
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* Ukraine
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* Women's peace movement
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* peace movement
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* Julia Ward Howe
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