Mums Rock

The work that women do as mothers is awesome. It most often holds families together and contributes substantially to our social and cultural capital. Fathers can be great as well, but that's another story. In this particular time and place there is a need for our social and economic system to recognise and respond to this 'unpaid labour' and value its true worth. The Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement (MIRCI) which is based in Toronto was established in the mid-1990s and has led the way in promoting research into the maternal or the experience of women as mothers. You can see more about MIRCI at www.motherhoodinitiative.org and the wonderful Demeter Press they established at www.demeterpress.org

Professor Andrea O'Reilly has been a driving force in this arena and has coined the term 'matricentric feminism' the title of one of her many books.

I look forward to meeting maternal scholars, hearing about their work and seeking out ways of moving this agenda forward, but along the way I'll be visiting sights and scenes that I hope to share with you.