“To mother is to care about the welfare of another person as much as one’s own. To mother depends on empathy and thoughtfulness, noticing and caring. To mother is the only pairing in which the strong and the weak are perfectly matched.” —Gloria Steinem

So much of mothering goes unnoticed. We shouldn’t need a holiday to remember all that we receive from our mothers. It is a significant part of who we are, and yet, we forget. Not only do we forget, we have yet as a nation to adequately account for the energy, patience and work that goes into caring for families. That is the work that has historically been done by mothers, and by domestic workers.

Today, as we think about our own mothers and their influence on our lives, we think of the sacrifices that our members make for their own children, working long hours without basic labor protections to give their children a better life. And we think of the mothering they do for millions of American families everyday; they are an invisible force of care that moves this country forward.

Each of us, as we commit ourselves to building a movement for respect and equity, knows what it is to mother. The mother in each of us drives us to care about our communities, about justice and about future generations. Today, we honor mothers, we also honor all who “mother” — domestic workers, and everyone who brings empathy and thoughtfulness, noticing and caring toward making the world a better place for all of us.

With love and gratitude,
The National Domestic Workers Alliance Staff

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