You’re not going to believe this, but in 1909 when activist Anna Jarvis tried to get the U.S. government to formally recognize Mother’s Day – a battle she fought to honour her own mother who spent the American Civil War caring for wounded soldiers and the following years trying to heal rifts between the North and the South – the all-male politicians warmly welcomed the plan and gave her a standing ovation.
Just kidding. They were jerks, of course.
“If we are going to take up this line of legislative action I think we should not stop by drawing distinctions. ... Everybody would agree that we should have a ‘mother-in-law day,’” said senator Charles William Fulton, drawing uproarious laughter from the assembled haughty scumbags.
Other senators called the campaign “puerile” and “trifling.” Those are some big, turn-of-the-century words so I’ll translate them to modern speak for any vocabulary challenged presidents who might be reading this: “Bad! Sad! Very, very bad! A disaster. Grab her by the …”
Pussywillows, roses and carnations eventually won the day, however, as Jarvis was resolute and her vision of Mother’s Day, marked by ceremonies and gifts of flowers, was finally, officially recognized across the country five years later by then-president Woodrow Wilson, whose friends called him Woody (probably).
I have been thinking about motherhood a lot since I started watching The Handmaid’s Tale, a documentary detailing Donald Trump’s “very, very fantastic” plans for U.S. domestic policy. Well … not really.
The new show, an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, is most definitely a work of fiction detailing a dystopian near-future in which women are enslaved and controlled by the fundamentalist, ruling elite. Infertility is widespread, and those women who can bear children are forced into ritualized sex with their male masters to provide offspring for the ruling men and their wives. Men hold all the positions of power and women are forced to obey. Far-fetched, right?
Last week came the sight of U.S. President Donald Trump at a podium on the White House lawn in front of what appeared to be dozens of old, white men – and one woman! – celebrating the passage of the American Health Care Act.
Who has two thumbs and loves giving tax breaks to the ultra-rich by stripping health care away from millions of people? These guys! But it’s 2017 – surely this pack of saggy old money bags would never be so craven as to gather together to celebrate health care cuts that disproportionately target women, would they?
“Women are disproportionately targeted by (the AHCA), even losing access to vital prenatal care. Many conditions that affect women will now be considered ‘pre-existing,’” writes obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Jennefer Russo in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. “Planned Parenthood is singled out by this bill. It will block the organization from receiving federal reimbursements for the care provided to patients, such as birth control, Pap tests and breast exams.”
Oh? Happy Mother’s Day.
This is dumb. In my experience, mothers should make every single health care decision ever made in the history of the world. Want proof? Give a father this quiz and see how he does:
1. What is your blood type?
2. What are you children’s blood types?
3. Which arm did little Timmy break last year?
4. Should I worry about this weird blotchy thing on my arm?
5. Where are the Band-Aids?
6. Should I have gravy on this?
My guess is the average father, myself included, would score minus-10 on the quiz, points deducted for soiling the sheet with gravy. Last week I was tasked with taking my son to the doctor to get a lingering ear infection checked out, and I could not remember which ear it was. Um, the right? It was a 50/50 shot.
Give that quiz to a mother, though, and she’ll likely ace it. And even if she doesn’t, I can safely say she wouldn’t be too happy about a bunch of rich old Skeletors deciding to take away her prenatal care.
I know many wonderful mothers, including my own who is a beacon of 100 per cent pure love for me and my family, as well as my incredible wife who should win multiple international awards for not just tolerating our two boys (and me), but sustaining us.
It’s more than a century since Anna Jarvis fought to have Mother’s Day celebrated, and countless other women have fought for other rights that should never have been denied in the first place. They all deserve better.
To all the women out there: keep fighting.
To all the men out there: Don’t be a dick. Be a Woody. And make sure you say thank you to your mother! Without our mothers, the world would be downright puerile.
Happy Mother’s Day!
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