Dear John,

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and though we’ll be celebrating in a completely different world than we usually do, I wanted to take this opportunity to acknowledge the many mothers and mother-figures who have had to carry an extra-heavy mental load these past two months, and to recognize that this is a hard time of year for many who have a complicated relationship with motherhood.

At Ms. this week, we did our best to capture a snapshot of the complexity of motherhood. For some of us, our mothers were the very first feminists in our lives—and even if they did not necessarily use that word, we were encouraged by them to seek equality in all aspects of our lives.

For single mothers, mothers in essential work and mothers who are able to work from home during the COVID-19 crisis, this pandemic has left moms shouldering—often entirely alone—all-consuming emotional labor for their families. “I feel like I have five jobs: mom, teacher, C.C.O., house cleaner, chef,” one mother shared. “My kids also call me ‘Principal mommy’ and the ‘lunch lady.’ It’s exhausting.” And we’re well aware of the fact that the pressure on women to balance everything at home and at work didn’t start with COVID-19 and isn’t just going to go away once it ends.

For some, motherhood is marked by terrible tragedy. Nicole Hockley, who lost her son in the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting, wrote about what it's like to be a mother when it feels like the world is falling down around you.

And for many, Mother’s Day is not a holiday at all—for millions of mothers in some of the world’s poorest countries and waiting in food bank lines here in the U.S., it is yet another day full of tough, heart-breaking challenges, made worse by our current global health crisis.

This week, I leave you with some important articles to read—some are quite moving, some are difficult, some are hopeful. After all: they reflect motherhood in its many frustrating, hope-filled, exciting, terrifying, wonderful forms.

BY GLORIA GONZÁLEZ-LÓPEZ | "My mother is now 94, has dementia and her nursing home in Austin is not far from my home. At times, she does not know if she lives in Mexico or the United States. And I do not know when or if I will ever see her soon, but there is one thing I know for sure: She was the first feminist who ever loved me."

BY ASHLEY LYNN PRIORE | Women academics are submitting fewer papers during coronavirus—with some fields like astrophysics reporting a 50-percent productivity loss among women.

BY NICOLE HOCKLEY | "When my beautiful butterfly Dylan was murdered in his first-grade class at Sandy Hook Elementary School, it took all the strength I had to be there for Jake, my older son who survived the shooting. There were days the grief was so overwhelming I couldn’t bear the thought of getting out of bed. But despite the excruciating pain, fear and loss, I still had an essential job to do. Because I am a mom."

BY LYNNE STOCKBRIDGE | For millions of mothers in some of the world’s poorest countries, Mother’s Day is yet another day full of tough, heart-breaking challenges—challenges like struggling to feed their children, being unable to afford to send their child to school or having to flee their home because of violence, conflict or extreme climate changes.

BY BRYANNE PETERSON | Thanks to COVID-19, many moms now have to juggle being a teacher or facilitator along with their many other responsibilities.

BY ANDREA FLYNN | "So many mothers I know have had stark reminders that we can only hold so much for so long. There have been more days than I’d like to admit when I hid in the bathroom to cry between participating in work conference calls and administering Google classroom tutorials."

BY CYNTHIA RICHIE TERRELL | Our friend, Cynthia Terrell, founder and executive director of RepresentWomen, is back with a new installment of her weekly column, rounding up some of her favorite stories about women’s representation in the news this week.

You have received this e-mail because of your interest in women's issues. To unsubscribe, please click here.
1600 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 801, Arlington, VA, 22209 | 703.522.2214 | [email protected]