What Comes After Brunch
The System Still Fails The Women It Celebrates
Like many of the 41 million mothers across the United States, I celebrated Mother’s Day yesterday with my four beautiful children.
They showered me with handmade cards, a shrinky dink necklace, and a fill-in-the-blank “About Mom” that accurately called out my affection for couch lounging—twice. I went to yoga. I cheered from the soccer sidelines (Go Bees!). I forced my kids to take a front yard photo.
My heart was full.
And yet, I couldn’t help but think that today—after the cards have been opened, the flowers admired, and the bottomless mimosas have finally run out—we’re still living in a society that doesn’t place much value on moms.
Or on women in general.
The Cost of Being a Woman in America
Women make up nearly 47% of the U.S. workforce, and 72% of mothers with children under 18 are employed. Yet working moms earn just 74 cents for every dollar earned by fathers. For Black and Latina mothers, that number drops to 52 and 46 cents, respectively.
The disparities grow even deeper at the intersections of identity. Disabled women working full-time, year-round earn just 67 cents for every dollar paid to non-disabled men. For disabled women of color, the gap widens even more: Black and Latina disabled women earn just 45 and 44 cents, respectively.
Transgender women also face steep wage gaps, earning an average of 60 cents for every dollar earned by the average American worker—many in part-time or gig roles due to persistent barriers to traditional employment.
These aren’t just numbers. They reflect who we trust, who we value, and who is left behind.
During the pandemic, 3.5 million mothers left the workforce, many to care for children or manage remote schooling. Not because they wanted to—but because someone had to. And society quietly assumed that someone would be Mom.
Even when women remain in the workforce, the penalties persist:
Missed promotions. Lower pay. Fewer leadership opportunities.
Plus all the unpaid labor—the mentoring, emotional support, and logistical lift—that women are expected to give without recognition or compensation.
We show up. We deliver. And still, we’re asked to do more with less.
“When Women Win, We All Win”
That wasn’t just a soundbite at the recent Collaborate Cleveland Women’s Breakfast that I attended with nearly 300 of Cleveland’s most brilliant female changemakers—it was the celebrated theme on banners, tote bags, and the pink sticker I stuck to my laptop.
And it resonates—because we know it’s true:
When women are supported, paid, and elevated, everyone benefits.
But here’s the reality: women are still losing ground.
We Still Don’t Trust Women
We say we celebrate women. We post tributes. We hashtag empowerment.
But we still don’t trust women.
We don’t trust them to lead—we’ve yet to elect a female president, even when the woman on the ballot is more qualified, more experienced, and more prepared.
We don’t trust them to make their own healthcare decisions—reproductive rights and bodily autonomy are under attack across the country.
We don’t trust them to define success on their own terms—working moms are penalized for ambition, and stay-at-home moms are undervalued for sacrifice.
We don’t trust them with power—especially when they’re Black, brown, disabled, LGBTQ+, or otherwise outside the mold of what leadership is "supposed" to look like.
This isn’t just bias. It’s centuries of patriarchy and control baked into our systems.
And it shows up everywhere—from ballots and boardrooms to hospital rooms and classrooms.
What Real Support Looks Like
If we really want to honor moms—and all women—we have to move beyond performative appreciation. That means:
Paid family leave that respects caregiving as essential, not optional
Equal pay for equal work, across gender, race, and parental status
Accessible, affordable childcare that makes work possible for working families
Reproductive autonomy and comprehensive healthcare in every state
Workplaces that don’t just applaud women—but promote them
Motherhood is a gift.
Womanhood is a gift.
Neither should require sacrifice as a baseline condition.
Let’s Move Beyond Brunch
So yes—celebrate the moms in your life. Always.
Bring the flowers. Make the brunch. Bribe the kids to smile for the picture.
But if you truly want to honor women? All women?
Pay us. Protect us. Elect us. Promote us.
Because we keep showing up.
We keep holding it all together.
We keep doing the work.
Now it’s time for the systems to show up for us.
When women win, we all win.
And that’s something worth celebrating—every single day.
