In her famous poem ‘There is talk of Gabriel’, Rosario Castellanos demystified the romanticization of motherhood by talking about herself and her son as unconnected beings. In this case, the figure of her son almost evokes that of a vampire, since he steals the color from her mother’s blood and forces her to split each bite into two. The message breaks with the stereotype of selflessness and sacrifice that usually characterizes mothers in Latin America.
Mexican women are assigned many roles and we are expected to fulfill them perfectly, often without taking into account our own desires. Perhaps the most uncompromising role we are required to play is that of mom.
In this regard, we can take as a reference the Monument to the Mother of CDMX. This sculpture of a woman with her son was inaugurated on May 10, 1949 with a plaque at her feet that reads “To the one who loved us before she knew us.” In 1991, the base of the sculpture was intervened by feminists to add an important addendum: “Because her motherhood was voluntary.” This phrase highlighted the indispensable element of free choice for the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights.
In 2021, the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court of Justice determined by unanimous vote that laws that criminalize abortion absolutely are unconstitutional and currently twelve states have decriminalized voluntary abortion. Although we have made progress in recognizing the right to abortion and the idea that “being a woman is the same as being a mother” has been surpassed, there are still many outstanding debts owed to women and other people with the capacity to gestate.
Thus, it is not only about guaranteeing that each person has the freedom to choose whether or not to decide to gestate, but also the necessary material conditions must be provided so that motherhood can be exercised with dignity—for whoever decides to do so.
In this regard, the reproductive justice approach becomes relevant, which emphasizes that all people who reproduce require a safe and dignified context to live these fundamental human experiences. To do this, it is necessary to guarantee access to community resources such as health services, education and high-quality housing, as well as a living wage, a healthy environment and support networks for when these resources fail (London, 2013).
One of the most painful aspects of motherhood is the alienation it produces in the lives of those who exercise it. However, being a mother should not mean parenting alone, staying locked up at home or giving up other areas of our life (Vivas, 2018).
It should be noted that Mexican mothers not only dedicate a good part of our time and energy to caring for our sons and daughters, but we also take care of the other people in our close community. This derives largely from this construction of women in the collective imagination under “being for others” (Gimeno, 2019) and it goes without saying that this mandate has served for centuries to confine us to domestic spaces.
According to data reported in the 2022 National Survey for the Care System, in Mexico 31.7 million people aged 15 years or older provided care to members of their household or other households. Of this population, 75.1 percent were women and only 24.9 percent were men. Likewise, it was noted that women who are main caregivers dedicated around 38.9 hours per week to care work (INEGI, 2023).
These figures show us a crisis that has not yet been valued as it should be in Mexico. We must recognize, as a meeting point, that, to achieve freer, happier and more dignified motherhoods, flowers and festivals are not enough, but it is necessary to work from the State and society so that care tasks are redistributed equitably. We owe it, at a minimum, to all the people who raise, care for and need care.
