America is facing a crisis on two fronts: maternal health and child care. And you can imagine that it is women who bear the greatest burden. “We are the richest country that gives little money to child care,” Reshma Saujani, founder of Moms First and Girls Who Code, said at the event. luck The Most Influential Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, California on Wednesday.
“The mothers are devastated,” Saujani said.
It was the pandemic that sparked a real realization among many women that they were struggling with the burden of being working mothers, Saujani said. And it’s not just about childbirth, but also the punishment of motherhood.
We don’t have a gender pay gap, we have a gender pay gap, Saujani added. In this case, America is one of the few countries experiencing rising maternal mortality rates, said Christy Turlington Burns as she sat next to Saujani on stage.
Men get a raise every time they have children, while women lose money, Saujani said. Every two minutes, a woman dies from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, Burns said. These astonishing statistics form the basis of interrelated crises; economics and health, and perhaps much more.
“Decade after decade, we have been told that we are the problem, that we are the reason why we are not free or equal,” Saujani said. “That’s because we lack self-confidence, because we don’t find a mentor, because we don’t color code our calendar, right, the problem is with ourselves. Yes, that is a bold lie.”
These errors have prevented women from achieving equality in the workplace. “Motherhood is the ultimate battle for gender equality,” says Saujani. Later, he called it a market failure that required intervention, both from the private sector and the government.
Yes, we’re entering an election year, and ideas about motherhood have risen to the surface—sometimes through discussions of abortion and the cost of child care. Saujani said he asked former President Donald Trump about it, and he said he responded with “word salad.” However, the debate regarding child care then went viral and sparked further discussion in the presidential and vice presidential debate. Not to mention, men may pay more attention because they are worried about their daughters and future balance struggles.
And with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, there are estimates that there will be an increase in maternal mortality, particularly among black women, Burns said. She spent time with mothers facing pregnancy anomalies who had to travel to other states for treatment, and in some cases she witnessed pro-life posters and signs on the way there. This also impacts healthcare providers who are unable to treat patients. Burns shared that she had a hemorrhage after giving birth to her daughter, who is now 21, and that’s what led her to this work and advocacy.
“It’s like cutting off the hands of doctors all over this country,” Burns said.
