Marshall Plan For Moms Launches "Moms Deserve More Flower Store" Highlighting What Moms Really Need This Mother's Day

NEW YORK, May 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Marshall Plan for Moms, led by Girls Who Code Founder Reshma Saujani, is launching the "Moms Deserve More Flower Store," an online flower shop highlighting the true value of mothers' work—and the true cost of adequately thanking them. The shop features bouquets like The Unpaid Work Bouquet, The Lack of Childcare Bouquet, and The Paid Leave Bouquet, each priced according to data showing the unpaid work and broken policies impacting moms.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been disproportionately devastating for mothers, and especially mothers of color. According to the National Women's Law Center, 2.3 million women left the workforce in the last year, putting the women's labor force participation rate at 57%—the lowest it's been since 1988. That's thirty years of progress for women, erased in a matter of months.

That's why this Mother's Day, more than ever, we need to do more than just thank our moms. We need to advocate for the systemic changes they really need and compensate them for their unseen and unpaid labor.

"A dozen roses are not going to cut it this year," said Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code and the Marshall Plan for Moms. "The pandemic has intensified what was already a national crisis for working moms, and especially for moms of color. Every year on Mother's Day we come together to celebrate our moms, but the truth is, this year, we have to repair the broken structure of motherhood in America. Because what moms really want—what they really need—is a national reckoning: one that reimagines our culture and rebuilds a system to actually value our work."

Unlike the floral display at the grocery store, this flower shop features bouquets as valuable as the women they're intended for. Their prices spotlight the various ways in which our national policies and COVID relief efforts are failing to adequately support mothers. The highest price tag belongs to the Unpaid Work Bouquet, which is based on new data released last week from Oxfam showing that women around the world lost $800 billion in income as they lost jobs or left the workforce to care for family. Other bouquets highlight long standing issues that directly impact women's finances and their ability to work and have children. The store also features stories from moms across the country who are feeling the real world impact of our broken system.

Bouquets in the Moms Deserve More Flower Store include:

• The Unpaid Work Bouquet: $800 billion
• The Lack of Childcare Bouquet: $13,000
• The Lost Job Bouquet: $36,000
• The Pay Gap Bouquet: $15,000
• The Paid Leave Bouquet: $9,500
• The Mental Stress Bouquet: $3,500

"We need systemic changes to our policies that compensate moms for their work," said Saujani. "If nobody can afford the cost of these bouquets, let's ask ourselves why we are continuing to ask women to pay that price."            

The Moms Deserve More Flower Store is supported by well known moms, advocates and organizations including Amy Schumer, Grace Meng, Ai-jen Poo, co-founder and Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Mara Bolis, Associate Director of Women's Economic Empowerment at Oxfam America, National Women's Law Center, Paid Leave for All, PL+US, and Scary Mommy. These advocates agree that the usual Mother's Day gifts are simply not enough to show mothers we truly value them and the enormous amount of work they do every day.

"Child care should be universally accessible and affordable to all families, and child care workers must be able to earn living wages and be treated with dignity and respect, said Ai-jen Poo, co-founder and Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. "For far too long, those in power have devalued caregiving and allowed for women, especially women of color, to be forced out of the workforce and care workers to be underpaid. Parents and care workers are doing the crucial and challenging work of nurturing the potential of future generations. As a nation, if we're to realize our potential, they must be supported by our public policy, our systems and a culture that values care."

"Care needs have spiked during the pandemic, and women—who are the shock absorbers of society—have stepped in to fill the gap at the expense of their own of economic and emotional wellbeing," said Mara Bolis, Associate Director of Women's Economic Empowerment at Oxfam America. "Across the world, women in the formal sector lost $800 billion last year due to lost jobs and stepping out of the workforce to care for children, the sick and elderly. This year for Mother's Day, we are asking for an economic recovery plan that works for moms and invests in our nation's care infrastructure so that mothers don't have to continue to serve as society's safety net."

"The lack of quality, affordable childcare for every mom in this country is a national crisis, said Amy Schumer. "When a family can't afford child care, the responsibility to take on the role of caregiver usually falls to the mom. We need to change this broken system now."

"This is a unique Mother's Day message – still a celebration of Moms, but with a more focused point of view of the actual cost of motherhood," and Amy Frisch, Managing Director and Head of Client Services at SS+K, the agency that managed the visual identity, website and creative launch of the campaign, said. "It's about time we acknowledged the financial expense associated with motherhood. This project was personal. I'm a mom, and I worked alongside a team of other SS+K moms. Collaborating with Reshma, we knew we could create a campaign that could make an impact in forcing this long overdue conversation."

In January, 50 prominent women ran a full page ad in The New York Times calling on the Biden Administration to create a task force dedicated to implementing a "Marshall Plan for Moms": that is, paying mothers for their unpaid, unseen labor, and passing policies addressing parental leave, affordable childcare, and pay equity. Following the New York Times ad, Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY) introduced the Marshall Plan for Moms (H.Res.121), a transformative piece of legislation  to help women return to  the workforce, and, for the first time, offer  much-needed assistance to mothers who have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Marshall Plan for Moms was then introduced in the Senate by U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL). In February, 50 prominent male allies, including Steph Curry, Don Cheadle, Colin Farrell and others signed a letter in the Washington Post calling on Congress to support the "Marshall Plan for Moms."

Visit the Moms Deserve More Flower Store HERE

Find more information on the Marshall Plan for Moms HERE

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About Marshall Plan for Moms
Marshall Plan for Moms is a national movement to center women in our economic recovery and champion public and private sector policies that support all moms. Our goal is to create sweeping cultural change to value women's unseen and unpaid work, and rebuild our broken system to make it possible for women to work and have kids. Together we are galvanizing moms across the country to finish the fight for women's equality once and for all.

SOURCE Marshall Plan For Moms