CLUB for UNESCO of GENOVA celebrates recurrence with A WOMEN. MAY 9, 2021-MOTHER'S DAY-MOTHER DAY 2021 (UNESCO Club-A WOMEN)

 

Pablo Picasso, "Maternidad", 1905

La maternità è uno dei temi ricorrenti nella produzione artistica di Pablo Picasso fin dai primi anni: esistono almeno dieci opere dedicate al rapporto, intimo ed essenziale, fra madre e figlio. Già prima del Novecento, ma soprattutto nel periodo Blu e in quello Rosa, Picasso raffigura con un'intensità umana fuori dal comune l'abbraccio amoroso della maternità: l'opera più famosa, in questo senso, è senz'altro “Maternidad”, realizzata nel 1905.

MAY 9, 2021-MOTHER'S DAY-MOTHER DAY 2021 (UNESCO Club-A WOMEN)

CLUB for UNESCO of GENOVA celebrates recurrence with A WOMEN.

The Club for UNESCO in Genoa flanks and unconditionally embraces global policies on respect, safeguarding and protecting women and in this case celebrates together with UN WOMEN and its international representatives Mother's Day.

~ The origins of Mother's Day date back to ancient Greek and Roman traditions. In th century England, on ′′ mother Sundays ′′ it was customary to visit your mother and bring her a cake.

In the United States of America, Mother's Day falls on the second Sunday of May thanks to Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia.

Earlier in May 1870, Julia Ward Howe, pacifist and abolitionist activist, proposed the creation of Mother's Day for Peace, as a moment of reflection against war, but the initiative it wasn't successful.

Fu thanks to the action of Philadelphia activist Anna Jervis, who started the fight of law to officialize a national day in honor of all mothers, and so happened following the death of her mother and activist Ann Maria Jarvis in 1905.

′′ Mother Jarvis ′′ was a community organizer that started ′′ Mother's Work Groups ′′ in her home state, West Virginia, which brought together mothers working to improve public health and food safety in their communities.

Modern Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, in the form of a memorial in honor of Mother Jarvis, emblem and peace activist icon.

Jarvis's celebration spread and became very popular, so it was officialized by then Woodrow Wilson President in 1914 when Congress deliberated to celebrate it on the second Sunday of May, as a public expression of love and gratitude for mothers.

Before the flower industry and retail advertising took note of the day, Mother's Day in the United States celebrated mothers work and activism.

Today we want to thank mothers around the world for the immeasurable contributions they make every day.

~ Your life.

Transporting, giving birth and feeding children is no small feat. But in the 21st Century, motherhood can still be a death sentence sometimes.

Every day 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Qualified care before, during and after childbirth can literally make the difference between life and death for mothers and infants.

Liberia is a sucking example. With 1.072 maternal deaths every 100.000 births, Liberia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. At Bodowhea Clinic in River Cess County in Liberia, Midwife Lorina Karway has pointed to the sad lack of infrastructure as a major obstacle to quality maternal healthcare. Last month, Karway helped give birth to 17 children at the clinic, which addresses over 6.000 residents in River Cess County Morweh District.

~ Taking care of maternity

Taking time to take care of children slows the progress of women's career.

Worldwide, women earn 77 cents for every dollar men earn. The result is a life of income inequality between men and women. As women become mothers, the income and opportunity gap widenes between men and women.

′′ The working world as we know it, is still generally organized around the male ′′ head of household ′′ model, with long and rigid working hours. When women become mothers, they endure the sentence of maternity ", says Chidi King, Director of the Department of Equality of the International Trade Union Confederation. ′′ In order to balance family responsibilities and paid employment, women accept part-time, casual or underpaid jobs, or work in the informal economy ".

During pregnancy, in too many parts of the world, including developed economies, women still suffer discrimination in the workplace. They can be underestimated, fired or relegated when they return to the world of work after giving birth and caring for their children.

But child care, cooking, cleaning and other unpaid care jobs that keep families and economies regularly fall on women's shoulders. The data shows women carry out unpaid care work at least twice and a half more than men. However, this job is neither valued nor counted.

′′ In theory, this type of work should be considered as part of GDP ", explains Shahra Razavi, UN Women's political expert. In a developed economy like Argentina, unpaid care work for women amounts to 7 % of GDP, while in a less developed country like Tanzania, according to feminist economists, accounts for 63 % of GDP.

Playing the lion's share in unpaid care work, and especially childcare, mothers around the world lose full-time paid jobs with decent wages, subsidies and retirement, plus leisure.

~ Fighting for your rights

Many mothers and sisters fought long and hard so that women have the rights and freedoms now have.

Women and girl s' rights can be enshrined in our international constitution, laws and agreements, but guaranteeing, maintaining and extending them remains a struggle between generations of women.

Today more girls go to school than ever and more women work, thanks to mothers and sisters who marched the streets, pressured governments and drafted laws.

New Zealand was the first self-government country to grant national voting rights to women in 1893, resulting from activism from another mother, and its most famous suffragist, Kate Sheppard.

As time goes on this holiday has evolved and trivialized into a commercial holiday, whose volume of business is only exceeded by Christmas holidays.

The festival was introduced in 1917 in Switzerland, 1918 in Finland, 1919 in Norway and Sweden, 1923 in Germany and 1924 in Austria. Later many other countries also introduced recurrence.

To never forget history and its most famous and important achievements

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother's Day 2021

Massimo Ruggero 

Presidente e Direttore del Dipartimento Italia at International Action ART