Make Mothers Matter on RTBF’s Tendances Première: The State of Motherhood in Europe

In the course of the interview, MMM President Anne-Claire de Liedekerke and Angela Garcia, Project manager, shared the key findings of our Survey:

• Mental health and burnout: More and more mothers report struggling with mental health issues and maternal exhaustion. The invisible work of caregiving and domestic responsibilities takes a serious toll on their wellbeing.
• Lack of social recognition: Motherhood remains largely undervalued in public policy and social discourse. The essential work mothers do is often overlooked.
• Career and employment impact: Motherhood still frequently results in reduced working hours or women leaving the workforce altogether. Work environments often fail to accommodate the realities of parenting.
• Unequal share of care and domestic work: Mothers continue to bear the brunt of household and caregiving duties, reinforcing gender inequalities and limiting their personal and professional growth.

We also emphasised the crucial role of increased father involvement in shifting societal norms and fostering better balance within families.

Finally, we presented MMM’s ongoing work to turn these findings into real solutions – through advocacy, research, and the promotion of fairer sharing and redistribution of care work.

🎧 Listen to the full interview here (in French)