Like everything else in 2020, this Mother’s Day is a bit different.

This date is generally be a somewhat sad – even bitter – one for me and other single moms I know; it’s the one day our otherwise thankless, unpaid work is supposed to be acknowledged, but we don’t have anyone to do the honors. (These efforts come from another adult in the equation, not the kids… trust me.)

But this is spring of 2020, and one of the big parts of life the corona crisis is forcing us to glare at unflinchingly is labor. Systemic problems in how we structure labor previously ignored by society at large are now getting considerable scrutiny, such as newly-deemed “essential” labor (and how under-valued and under-compensated most of it is), unsustainable industries (e.g. restaurants), and invisible / unpaid labor.

Invisible, unpaid labor is the kind of work most of us have been forced to come face-to-face with while quarantined: cooking, care-taking, home maintenance, home administration (such as stocking and monitoring household supplies or budgeting), educating outside of formal structures (where kids are present). That is, traditionally “women’s work”.

Single dwellers without children may not be experiencing anything differently in this regard. But those who have to share domestic labor with others, and especially those who have any dependents requiring of their labor in order to stay healthy and alive, are certainly venting all over the internet about the intensity of having increased unpaid domestic – previously invisible – work, in many cases piled on top of their paying work (for those lucky enough to have paid work!).

Here’s what our economic system has up until now refused to make visible:
(and here’s some classic feminist theory explaining why)

We all need to be fed one way or another. We all need to maintain our homes: clean, fix, acquire supplies. Taking care of our individual needs is primordial. The thing is, there are many members of society who can’t perform the labor required to meet these needs, and we are all at one point said members of society. We are all children at one point in our lives – as well as, possibly, elderly and/or with a disability – and need the labor of others to have our basic needs met. (Yep, even single, able-bodied people who deem themselves completely self-sufficient were once children who needed to be fed, educated, guided, cared for.) This labor of “attending to others’ needs” is an inescapable part of any and every society.

I won’t pretend to be clueless as to why, if this labor is essential to any human society, it is by and large not acknowledged, named or talked about except where professionalized. (By this I mean: the ‘healthcare industry’ doesn’t encompass the at-home monitoring of someone’s temperature, dressing wounds, making throat-soothing infusions; the ‘restaurant industry’ doesn’t include default home cooks who have mouths to feed every day, rain or shine.) This labor is the glue that holds society together, and instead of giving it our highest reverence, we take it for granted. Why? Because, historically, of course, this is women’s labor, and we live in a patriarchal system – one that devalues women and everything they do.

This is why, in criticizing capitalism, many are calling for a “feminist economy”.

A feminist economy is one that explicitly centers and values the labor required to ensure ALL humans are fed, clothed, living in a hospitable environment, and with access to healthcare.

Such an economy ensures all children have food on their table every day – and caretakers that can be present to their emotional and developmental needs, because they themselves are supported. Because their labor is recognized, honored and compensated as much as any other kind of labor.
Such an economy ensures all people with any kind of disabilities, chronic or temporary, have caretakers to support their basic needs.
Such an economy ensures that all who reach old age are aided if they lose the capacity to perform certain tasks.

A feminist economy values care-giving labor as much as it values children, people with disabilities and the elderly. It bears repeating: we were all children once, and the longer we live, the more likely we will at one point have a disability, or become elders who need some kind of support.

The valued, supported and compensated care of others is inescapably at the heart of any healthy, sustainable, truly prosperous society – including the one many of us wish to create.

Unlike past years, this year as I watch Mother’s Day roll around, I feel a twinge of hope. Although a new economic system hasn’t been birthed yet, I see newfound awareness about the labor of caring for others, and understand we’re at the very beginning of a gestation period. Our job now is to nurture and grow our vision of a feminist reality – and bring it into the world.

(Read more about this topic here, here, or here, or here connecting with the Green New Deal. And here’s some writing about Hawaii’s Feminist Economic Recovery Plan.)