Our mothers deserve better!!!

Every year around this time the question is “What can I do for Mom?” While some of us commemorate the day the second Sunday in May and some of us do so on May 10^th, whichever is the day we set aside to honor her we try to make this day a special one, or so we hope.  But I think it’s time for all of us as a nation to ask the question collectively “What can we do for our mothers?” Perhaps many Belizeans might be surprised to learn that a country as ours, with a small population and “continuous strives” in the part of our government, ranked 41^st of 79 Less Developed Countries in Save the Children’s annual ranking of conditions for motherhood.  There are three categories in which countries were separated; More developed countries (where USA ranked 31^st/44), Less developed countries (category in which Belize falls), and Least developed countries (where Afghanistan ranked last in the entire world). 

In the category in which we fall Cuba ranks No. 1 in an index that includes conditions for both mothers (maternity leave, income, life expectancy, access to contraception, maternal mortality) and children (infant mortality, education opportunities).  While Belize did much better than its regional neighbors such as Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua which ranked 68^th, 59^th and 58^th respectively, El Salvador ranked ahead of Belize at 40^th and Mexico at 23^rd while Jamaica came up 15^th among 79 countries in this category.  While Afghanistan ranked last, Norway ranked No. 1 in the entire world and the report credits the country with having the highest ratio of female-to-male earned income, the highest contraceptive prevalence rate, one of the lowest under-5-mortality rate and one of the most generous maternity leave policies in the developed world. 

Despite the fact that these are developed countries compared to Belize, I believe we are not doing enough to provide better living conditions for our mothers.  The present economic situation in our country makes it’s even harder for our single mothers who are trying to raise families in a society where crime against women is growing by the day and where public polices seem not work for them.  Our women hold fewer elected offices than their counterparts in the countries that scored better on the index and also face tougher conditions of employment where men get paid better wages for the same job performance and the list of our shortfalls continues. 

This is no way to treat our mothers.  41^st is an unacceptable place in the region! We have strived for better ranks in sports and education; I believe our mothers deserve far better conditions which are presently afforded to them.  I feel our national executive and our legislative branch should feel compelled to review public polices in areas such as health care, education and parental leave.  Our Belizean mothers should be given the basic tools they need to break the cycle of poverty which leads to many social ills and thus improve the quality of life for themselves, their children and for generations to come. 

The flowers, dinners, outings, and wine are all nice gestures but let’s not be under the illusion that we are doing enough for our Mothers.