Mothers: The Missing Link in Child Rights Discussions?

Child rights advocates tend to ignore the family environment and overlook the role of parents–in particular mothers, although it is absolutely crucial to protect the rights of children, in particular during pregnancy and the critical early years.

That is what we sought to redress with our contributions to the report, in particular:

• Drawing on our State of Motherhood in Europe 2024 Survey, we drew particular attention of maternal mental issues, which our survey shows are rampant, and which can have profound negative impacts on early childhood development.
• We also denounced the motherhood penalty, i.e. the specific discriminations and economic disadvantages that women face when they become mothers, which can also indirectly hinder a child’s physical, cognitive and emotional development.

Caring for a child during the early years is absolutely vital and often rewarding, but also time-consuming, strenuous work which is unpaid and unrecognised. Fathers’ limited involvement in caregiving roles, although increasing in certain geographical and cultural contexts, reinforces traditional gender stereotypes, placing most caregiving responsibilities on mothers.

This inequitable distribution of care work and responsibilities is at the root of gender inequalities: motherhood has a high cost for women, in particular in terms of lost earnings, aborted career, financial dependence and limitations of pension rights.

It also affects their health, in particular their mental health. In a 2024 survey conducted across Europe, half of the mothers surveyed reported mental health issues – a huge number that requires action.

Our main recommendations:

• ECD policies should therefore be part of a broader national care policy framework, that seeks to recognise and support unpaid care, and redistribute this vital work more fairly between men and women, but also across society, with families, communities, the private sector and governments at every level taking their share of costs and responsibilities
• ECD policies must promote active fatherhood: involving fathers from the outset is a triple win as it benefits the mothers, the children and the men themselves. Until this becomes reality, however, ECD policy must recognize that in most families it is generally the mother, frequently supported by their own mother or other female relatives, who are mostly responsible for caring for babies and young children

We hope that our views will be reflected in the resolution that is expected to be adopted by the UN General Assembly to encourage member states to develop cross-sectoral policies supporting early childhood development.

Read the full report The right to a good start in life: a child’s right to a holistic early child development