Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change

We will always find ways to take care of one another. When we lean into this natural, unstoppable, and very human urge, the results are expansive. And I want more.

What if every child believed that being “good” at a sport or activity—football, badminton, or ballet; break dancing, skateboarding, or curling; fencing, jumping rope, or juggling—means that you enjoy doing it?

We are dependent on our nannies, cleaners, personal Instacart shoppers, Door Dash delivery drivers, parents, co-parents, chosen family, and in-laws. The domestic load is as heavy as ever, but if we have the means, we spread it out among multiple people. This is not real progress.

As I age, the more convinced I am that the concept of “normal” is the most toxic thing in our culture.

We extend the American ideals of productivity and efficiency to our off-hours.

Reimagining our approach to mothering can birth its transformative potential. Day in and day out, this work can be our most consistent, embodied resistance to patriarchy, white supremacy, ableism, and the exploitation that underlies American capitalism.

Mothers’ work outside the home, whatever form that takes, is directly tied to their participation in public life.

Rather than viewing care work as characteristic of the noun “motherhood,” I now see it as the action of mothering, which includes anyone who is engaged in “the practice of creating, nurturing, affirming and supporting life.”

The division between home and work remains paramount to the system we live under.