Laborers of Love

Re-envisioning Motherhood & Caretaking as Valuable Work

In a huge pro-family victory, the Irish recently gave a resounding vote of “no” to removing the word “motherhood” from their Constitution.¹ A second amendment, which proposed removing a Constitutional provision stipulating that women should not be forced by economic necessity to take a job to the “neglect of their duties in the home” was also soundly defeated. Irish attorney Maria Steen, who campaigned against the proposed amendments, called the outcomes an “expression by the Irish people of gratitude and of love—gratitude to women for the work that they do in their homes, that is often unseen and unsung.”

The concept of motherhood as an important role that entails...