Mothers

Statement from a single mother & grandmother:
"I support the Strike and will take time off because I’ve done too much work for too many years for no pay or low pay.
I raised two sons as a single mother and now have three grandchildren. 
I work as a carer in the community for £5.25 per hour. 
I visit people in their homes mornings, afternoons and evenings 7 days a week. Starting 8am and finally finishing at 9pm. My work includes personal care, cooking meals, “light” house work, shopping and also emotional care – which is always draining and never visible or valued.
Some people that I visit live in squalor, in isolation, with no support from family or neighbours or friends. Sometimes the only person they see is the carer, who’s rarely got time to give them any real care/support.
Some people are angry at the lack of time they get. But they blame the asylum seekers, immigrants “for taking all the benefits”, they insist it’s all true, they’ve read it in the papers and seen it on the news.
When I try to point out that the government is spending our money on attacking the countries these people come from I’m at risk of losing my visit to them and my £5!
So I live with the struggle, keep smiling and shut my mouth knowing that once again I’ve let someone rant on with their racism without challenging their shit. And then when I visit my Black sons and play with my beautiful grandchildren, I have to hold the pain, knowing that I haven’t defended their right to live peacefully without racism.
So the Strike is important to me because for one day I can ask for all my work to be counted and for once I can count and be valued for all that I do."

Statement from a Pakistani woman living in Britain:  
"I'm an immigrant and a mother, exhausted trying to care for and raise a child in an unfamiliar, unhelpful society; to hold down a job and other responsibilities, but the Strike lifts me up. It gives hope to women by showing the importance of home and caring work. In my country 65% of the budget goes to military expenditure, very little is left for women, children, health, education. Women's health is always at risk, literacy is very low for women and girls, and access to clean water, housing and other resources, very difficult.  Most resources go to the military, which is very deeply established so other institutions do not grow. Whichever party comes to power fails and falls into corruption, because the military is always in power. There are tensions between Pakistan and Indian governments, but there is no problem between the people: 40-50 years ago we were separated but there has never been independence. Instead of preparing for war, the money should go to development, starting with women and children. Our country is made for people not for the military.
All countries under authoritarian rule have the same problems -- we women can use the strike to raise these issues. The Strike gives words to women's feelings, what we want and need to change priorities." 

"I’m from Ghana, and it is good for women in the whole world, not just one community, to take a break together . . . I have had to deal with abuse and violence in the family.  My husband is back in Ghana and I am now raising two children on my own while fighting for the right to stay in England.  We women are often used as slaves, trapped in the home.  We are prevented from seeing what is going on outside. For me the strike is about re-building my confidence, coming out of darkness, finding out how other women are feeling, and how we can get what we need to deal with our problems. We can’t go back to the old days, we must go forward together."   Patricia A - fighting against deportation

"I’m joining the strike because as a Native American lesbian mother I am tired of fighting against prejudices and discrimination because my lover is a woman. Tired of dealing with the homophobia that my kids face because their moms a lesbian and they are afraid they will be made fun of or bullied at school so they don’t bring their friends home. Tired of being an outcast within the Native American community that has been "brainwashed" by Anglo Christian beliefs. It is a new Millennium, and time for a change! Gonalcheesh, ho ho!"

"In Europe, racism in employment, housing, education, welfare benefits, childcare, etc., . . . is so widespread that it's hard for Black and immigrant single mothers to get a job with a decent income. Women are working so hard to survive on low incomes that children suffer too. In addition, Black children are often put in the worst schools, and there is the constant worry that they will not get the encouragement and care to develop their abilities because of racism and limited resources. I have had to work very hard for my children's schooling and I would like to see recognition for the unwaged work of raising children in the face of racial discrimination." Akuwa, from Ghana living in London

"I only went on the game for the money. It was not a career move. I was a single mother on welfare doing cleaning jobs to make life bearable. Hooking gave me more money and more time with my children. And we could all go on holiday at last. But then I was an illegal worker and for 13 years I’ve had to hide what I do in case my ex-husband or the school or a neighbour or someone in the community decided to report me and my partner to the police, social security or social services. I’ve know many prostitute women labeled unfit mothers and lose custody of their children and nearly lose their minds because it, when all they were doing was earning money so they could get decent food and clothes for their kids.

I'm joining the Global Women's Strike because I believe that all women's work and lives should be valued. I'm a single mother of two children working very hard on a low income as a care assistant in a home with people with mental illnesses. Sometimes they take their violence against me because of my colour and say that I should go back to my country. I am fighting for my right to stay in Britain and for my children to have a better life. Where I come from women are often used as slaves, working on farms and in markets and also do all the housework with no pay. This Global strike has to change all women's lives. Rose, from Ghana

I’m a lesbian mother and have raised kids and I’m going on strike to add the work lesbian mothers do raising kids in the face of prejudice and poverty, along with all the other work mothers do. And now, I’m about to be a lesbian grandma. The work never ends! R, San Francisco

I'll be on strike as a lesbian single mother because the isolation and vulnerability for single mothers can be even greater when we are lesbian. The additional suspicion and disapproval we face and the fear of losing our children makes us guard our lives more closely. We’re treated as less "real mothers" and more "pretended". It can be even harder to get our kids back from care especially if we’re also Black or immigrant, have disabilities and/or have a record for illegal work such as prostitution or shoplifting which many of us have do to support our children and have a social life. The lesbian and gay press rarely oppose government attacks on single mothers that aim to destroy our non-nuclear families. Whilst celebrating lesbian and gay couples who have or adopt children, they refuse to give lesbian single mothers any visibility, defence or protection. We have a right to money and time to fulfill all our own and our children’s needs and desires. K, London.

Raising children is some of the hardest work there is, and women like me who are non-biological mums are usually officially invisible in our children’s lives - or we’re told our families are "perverted" or "pretended". I’m striking because no woman should have to choose between having and raising children and living a lesbian life; and the families we choose must be recognised and valued.  A, London.

As a single mother with a disability, I am joining the strike because I am sick of living on a fixed income that is inadequate to meet the needs of my son and myself. I think its outrageous that the US, the richest country of the world, treats mothers so badly. And what I receive on Social Security Disability is more than a mother on welfare (who may also have a disability). Here we have a hierarchy of who is deserving, more deserving or less deserving poor. But as mothers, we are all treated as if we are being unproductive unless we also have a waged job on top of the unwaged work of raising children (or the unwaged work of having a disability) and the work of all mothers - and all women - is devalued. That's why its so important that our work be measured and valued, so that we can point to what we are actually contributing. 

In this new millennium, we have to make a change so that the needs of people are central. As a woman with a hearing disability, its always on me to do the work of adjusting so that I can best hear, so that I don't miss the subtleties that are so much a part of human communication. I'm sure much more could be done technologically to make the world accessible to all of us if people were the priority. I think the Strike is a way to say we intend for the new millennium to be a time to build a movement in that direction. Pat Philadelphia, US

All women count: Mothers and grandmothers more information

Home