Transcriber: Oksana Kim Reviewer: Chryssa R. Takahashi
Okay, hi everybody.
I'm really excited to be here and talk to you about motherhood.
A lot of times I start my talks with asking, how many in here are mothers?
How many are mothers?
Raise your hands, keep them up, okay?
Who has a sister, a cousin, a friend, who is mother?
Raise your hand.
Okay, I see a little more.
Okay, who has mother?
(Laughter)
Okay, right.
What you can see there, everyone in this room has something in common.
We all have something in common and that is motherhood.
And motherhood is very powerful; mothers are very powerful.
We are connected through motherhood.
And as a marketer,
I'm always interested in different terms and phrases.
Lately I have been thinking about the term "motherhood matters".
There is few different ways that you can use this, but right now,
what I've been thinking about, are the matters of motherhood.
So the matters of motherhood could be anything
from making sure that my daughter gets enough food in the morning
and she has enough protein, right?
Matters of motherhood; making sure that her education is a good education,
making sure that she's healthy,
and that we're setting her up to be the best person that she can be.
Today, just today,
my motherhood matters were the fact that I didn't have a babysitter.
So she is here today, The babysitter cancelled on me.
So that's a motherhood matter.
But what I want you to realize
is motherhood matters are global matters.
Think about it, our biggest issues in this world are just about
what I think about almost on a daily basis.
Poverty, right?
I think about making sure I have enough money
to make sure we can take care of her and put shoes on her feet.
Lack of tolerance; I want to make sure she is a good person
and the people that she surrounds herself with are good people.
Lack of education, this is a problem that we have.
I want to make sure that she is getting the best education that she can get.
Our troubled economy, right?
These are global issues.
But to mothers, on a very micro-level, everyday we're thinking about those.
These global issues are our issues every day.
So, the other way I think about motherhood matters is, mothers are important.
Mothers matter; they are important.
Mothers, I would argue,
are the most important group in this world,
if we want to change the world and make it a better place.
Research showsthat women are more likely than men
to reinvest profits back into human capital.
So, when even in the most impoverished nations in the world,
when a woman is on equal level and when they have economic power,
they will reinvest back into their community, back into their children.
And so when they reinvest back into their children,
they are making sure their kids have a better education,
they make sure that their kids eat,
they make sure that they are safe.
And this benefits directly to their development.
So when their kids are healthy, and eating right, and doing well,
this indirectly benefits the world as a whole.
It actually lifts up the nation
and makes it a more amazing nation.
And the income growth for that nation grows.
The other thing I really want you to know, that mothers inherently,
we want to do what's best for our children,
we inherently want to be there for our children,
and be good people, and make sure that they are good people.
So, what is best for our children is best for this world, right?
Just think about this.
If you empowered the more than two billion mothers on this planet
to make sure that their kids have enough education, that they are fed well,
there would be no war, there would be no poverty.
There really wouldn't.
Mothers would make sure
as long as they were empowered to take care of their children.
Mothers are powerful.
We can change the world.
But we can't do it on our own.
First of all, mothers, we must own our power.
We have to realize that our common trait of taking care of our children
is more important and more powerful
than all of our differences combined.
And those of you who aren't mothers,
I want you to realize that by sheer number alone,
we, mothers, are a force to be reckoned with.
By raising children,
we are absolutely crucial to peace and prosperity in this world.
Why not raise up mothers to change this world and make it a better place?
So, right now, how does that relate to us,
how does that relate right here in the United States?
Well, I also want you to realize, money talks, I understand that,
we are huge economic force in the United States.
Mothers are responsible for more than 2.1 trillion dollars
in spending each year.
We make more than 80% of all household purchases
in the United States every year.
Mothers are powerful.
And yet motherhood gets a bad rap.
There is the "work at home" versus the "stay at home".
There's the comical mothers in the media.
I mean, we're never portrayed as just regular people.
We've either got "the yoga pants" or we've got "the wine drinking moms",
or "the Facebook moms", or we're "the crafty moms",
or we're "the martyr moms";
the, "Oh, all we do is think about our kids,
and make sure that our house is clean."
The most egregious stereotype, however, are "the welfare moms".
They don't care about their kids, obviously,
why do they keep having them, right?
All of this talk,
and all of this noise and judgment
distracts from the fact that mothers are powerful.
And that by empowering mothers you can change the world.
So, you know, I had a life before I had my daughter.
I was 39 years old, I was a real person, I got an MBA.
Motherhood did not negate who I became before.
Motherhood did not negate that I'm a writer,
that I'm an entrepreneur, that I've marched on Washington
for women's rights,
it didn't negate that I can rock an Excel spreadsheet,
whether it be in for a multi-million dollar marketing budget,
or my daughter's Halloween party.
(Laughter)
I want you to realize that becoming a mother
did not lessen who I am;
it enhanced who I am.
I'm a much more compassionate, knowledgeable, interesting,
skillful person.
And yet, once you become a mother,
you're reduced and marginalized.
The current systems we have in place here in the United States
discourage engaged parenting by fathers.
They squash the system, they squash the family.
And they marginalize motherhood.
And I get it.
We are all guilty of hanging onto the status quo.
If it doesn't concern us, why change it?
Right now most of you aren't moms and it doesn't concern you, right?
But what I am asking you to do today is to challenge the status quo,
change the culture, empower mothers.
And really, it starts in organizations and companies right now.
It's not enough to provide on-site child care.
It's a start.
Companies, they are moving along, slowly,
but really, the entire system of putting work before families
must be reversed in order to change this world.
Families must come first.
Empower a mother, empower a father,
change the world.
Also, it's not really that hard to empower a mother.
From a $25 micro-loan for a woman in a third world country,
-- they are very easy, look them up --
to flextime for both men and women here in the United States.
These seemingly small acts can have a direct and positive impact
on a mother and her family.
Impact in the world.
And when you are looking for companies or the company that you are in,
I want you to think a little bit differently.
What's the leave policy in that company?
Is it good for both men and women?
Are they open to you working from home?
Are there women in executive positions?
Are there women on their boards?
And wonder if you don't find that.
I say, start your own business.
Start a business with "family first" as one of your core values, and mean it.
Change the work week.
Change the work week from 40+ hours a week
to, "get your work done, do it well, go home, enjoy your life".
Change the work week, that's a simple thing.
But I do have to warn you that mothers can get more done in one day
than most everybody else can get done in a week.
(Laughter)
Just going to say that you might not see us much.
And company recreational rooms; listen.
I am not against the keg on Fridays,
I'm not against the Foosball table, the ping pong.
Put them in there.
What I am saying is, guess what?
Kids get out of school at three o'clock,
when their parents have to work until at least five o'clock.
Why not have the room for the kids?
When they can come and do their homework,
at the company?
And let's get really radical here.
Why not have other people in the company,
volunteering, get incentives for mentoring those kids.
How about that?
These are just small things that you can do,
and that you can have that expectation to help out mothers,
and to empower mothers, and to change the world.
Another thing is volunteer time.
You know, we get asked to go volunteer for the schools, and that's great,
but so many people can't do it.
Working parents, it's close to impossible.
Why not have a half-day off
for anybody who wants to volunteer at a school?
A paid half-day off instead of having to take that from your vacation time
or get docked pay, how about that?
That's a simple solution.
These are just the tip of the iceberg.
And you can do just small things, you can do big things to change the world.
But what I am really asking you to do is to think about at the beginning,
when everybody's hand was raised,
and realize how connected we are by motherhood.
Motherhood has influenced your life,
whether it's your mom or somebody else's mom.
Motherhood has influenced your decisions, and impacted who you are as a person.
Mothers have impacted the world.
And remember, most of all, that mothers are powerful.
And with your help, we can change the world.
Thank you.
(Applause)