Mother's Day Highlights Unequal Burden on Moms: A Call for Change

Mother's Day and the Unpaid Labor of Motherhood: A Look at Gender Inequality On Mother’s Day 2025, many mothers used the occasion to highlight the unequal burden of household tasks and childcare. This issue, prevalent across the US, underscores the ongoing struggle for gender equality in the home. A recent video by Christinajhuynh on social media brought this issue to light. Christinajhuynh, a writer and millennial mom, states in her video, “What moms do on a daily basis is what dads are praised for.” She illustrates this with examples of daily tasks like cooking, helping with homework, and putting children to bed—tasks often considered a mother's 'job' but lauded as exceptional when done by fathers. This disparity, she argues, stems from deeply ingrained societal expectations shaped by patriarchy. The video highlights the additional mental load and invisible labor that disproportionately falls on mothers, such as remembering children's schedules and preferences. This unseen work contributes significantly to mothers' overall stress levels. The video concludes by suggesting that Mother’s Day often becomes a time for mothers to seek respite, a reflection of the imbalance inherent in current societal norms. The discussion sparked by Christinajhuynh’s video underscores the need for a more equitable distribution of household responsibilities and a reevaluation of societal expectations surrounding parenthood.