Moms Don’t Feel Represented. Motherly Wants to Change That

Sometimes, moms just don’t feel seen.

We are multidimensional women, with rich backgrounds, cultures, hopes, and dreams. We love our families and want to see our daily experiences reflected in the media and world around us.

That doesn’t always happen.

70% of women say they don’t feel represented by images in media and advertising.

2 in 3 Black Americans don’t feel represented in media, either.

Nearly one-fifth of women of color reported feeling invisible or excluded at work.

Our own research has confirmed this, too.

89% of moms feel increasingly unsupported by society, according to our 2020 State of Motherhood survey.

It’s time for a change. It’s time to give a voice to moms everywhere.

That’s why we created the State of Motherhood survey: to better understand your experiences as a mother and as a person.

“For the first time, ever, I saw myself in the survey. I could check a box.”

Jenan Matari is one of the many moms who has already taken our 2021 State of Motherhood survey. She anticipated answering questions about her children and their habits. She didn’t expect to be asked about her own identity or the emotions that came with finally seeing her community represented.

“This has been a struggle of mine and for many others in the Middle Eastern & North African (MENA) community for years as we are repeatedly lumped into inappropriate categories. I am an Arab and Latina woman, but you would never know that based on the surveys I have taken (including the U.S. Census),” she explained.

“Many in our community have a tendency to check off ‘Caucasian/White’ when our cultural existence is anything but that. Our needs and cultural expectations and struggles are not the same as those who fit into that box. If we aren’t checking off that box, we go straight to ‘Other,’ and if there’s a write-in option many of us will write-in ‘Arab.’ This results in virtually NO data on our community, which means our struggles and needs are never heard or fulfilled, and on a survey like the State of Motherhood, that means our community’s mothers would have been nonexistent as well.”

Matari says she had such an emotional response to seeing the MENA community included in a survey that she actually took a picture of the question to save.

Jenan Matari

“Being able to check off not only more than one box (because most people these days identify with more than one race and ethnicity) but specifically, the MENA box on the 2021 State of Motherhood survey, meant that the rest of my survey responses will finally be tied to the community I come from,” she said.

“It means that, for the first time ever, the US will have data on what mothers from the MENA region are feeling, what the pandemic has been like for our community, what we need to raise our families and excel in our careers, where we are persevering and where we may need some extra help, etc.

It means that we’ll start to (hopefully) see content that is relevant to our community and we’ll be included in the conversation, which will (again, hopefully) lead to actionable items that result in good and necessary changes to ultimately better our community.

We deserve that just as much as any other group of mothers, and I am grateful to Motherly for taking that step towards inclusion. What seems like a ‘silly little box’ to most, can be absolutely life-changing for some.”

We hope that our State of Motherhood survey helps you feel seen and heard. We want to share your experiences with the world, mama.

Please take our 2021 State of Motherhood survey by Sunday, March 14th.

It should take 15 minutes to complete.

We know your time is valuable. Survey respondents will be entered into a random drawing for an electronic gift certificate for $500 from the Motherly Shop.

We can’t wait to get to know you better—and to show the world how diverse, empowered, and strong we are!