As the weather warms up and the flowers start to bloom, we once again celebrate one holiday that has become an important part of society. Yes, I am talking about Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. While these holidays are culturally valuable, they were created over 100 years ago when the United States was a far less inclusive country. It is now time to reform them to make them less discriminatory.
Mother’s Day was invented in 1908 by Anna Jarvis to honor the sacrifices that mothers made for their children. It was later declared a national holiday by President Woodrow Wilson, one of the most bigoted presidents in American history. Father’s Day was created soon after, likely due to the inflated egos of men who couldn’t stand with women having their own holiday. It wasn’t established as a national holiday until Richard Nixon, another bigoted president, declared it in 1972. These holidays may have been relevant in the past, but today they are actually harmful and discriminatory to marginalized groups of people.
It’s common knowledge that there are more than two genders, upwards to the three-thousands at this point, as well as those who are transgender (Transgender definition), nonbinary (Nonbinary definition), or who do not confine to any gender. Yet for some reason transgender/nonbinary individuals and other parents who do not identify as male or female do not have a holiday to be honored as parents. To these people, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are not only blatantly offensive holidays, but a sign that they are not welcome. This is a very basic form of discrimination and cannot go unanswered. In order to right the wrongs that we as a country have made, both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day must be abolished and replaced with a more inclusive holiday.
One option to replace Mother’s Day with the non-gendered term: Birthing Person’s Day. This day would be inclusive for all individuals and genders who are able to, or with the desire to birth. For example, used by Congresswoman Cori Bush in the tweet below and the excellent quote RT by NARAL.
Another way to make honoring parents more inclusive is to create a non-male parent day. Because let’s be honest here, the only reason that Father’s Day was created was to take away from the hard work, dedication, and 10 seconds of thanks for people of birthing. Fathers sacrifice far less than birthing people and nonbinary individuals. Studies have shown that birthing people are more likely to take a break from work after a baby is born than men.
Another problem that America faces, even with pregnancy is racism. Studies also show that Black people of birthing are more likely to have complications with insurance, birth complications, and overall healthcare malpractice.
While it is clear that Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are discriminatory towards nonbinary people and other marginalized groups; nothing has been done to make it inclusive. As the two holidays come around be sure to celebrate the sacrifices your parents have made while taking action to make sure nonbinary people are included in the celebrations. Some actions you can take include: petitioning the Biden administration to change the holidays into a single, more inclusive day; donating to Black trans/nonbinary parents; or donating to organizations who help impoverished JLGBTQ+ families.
