Mothers, we need rights and protection to boost the birth rate in Italy
From the right to choose to women's employment, from maternal surnames to the defence of fragile situations: the demographic winter is fought by valuing motherhood
5' min read
5' min read
Why is it important to talk about mothers' rights today? Never as in recent years has motherhood been and - in a different way still is - at the centre of the debate, including the political debate: in Italy the issue of the birth rate is at the centre of the debate and, in turn, the discussion shifts to what policies are necessary and useful to reverse the trend. When people talk about mothers, however, they do so as a necessary component for the development of society and the country, but without this being followed up by attention to the needs, rights and valorisation of those who represent that fundamental component in reality. Mothers thus become a means and not an end, they are not the subject but the object of a country strategy that calls for more births to respond to the ageing of the population, the need for a generational change in the workforce, support for the welfare system, and so on. Mothers are not placed at the centre of politics but are a collateral element of the nation's development.
Instead, the gaze should necessarily be widened: to what extent is becoming a mother a choice that can be defined as totally free and possible for all women? To what extent is the protection of motherhood, mentioned in our Constitution in Article 31, really realised in our legal and social system? How much are we still bound to a vision of motherhood that only concerns the period of gestation and birth, thus leaving out everything else?
"Mothers have often been regarded as means and not as ends. Health services have been directed towards mothers with the aim of encouraging the birth of healthy babies, forgetting that in the mother there is also a woman, who also has the right to health and survival. Society has an obligation to guarantee a woman's right to life and health, especially when she puts her life at risk to give us life,' wrote Professor Mahmoud F. Fathalla, former UN Director of the Special Programme Human Reproduction who died in 2023. A view that should be broadened from health to the right to work, from social recognition (including through a mother's surname for her children) to protection against domestic violence.
"Motherhood is not a limited event or period in a woman's life: it also exists when children grow up, when they become adults. Rethinking the role and rights of mothers means considering motherhood in all its complexity and difficulty, in its evolution over time," reflects Maria Donata Panforti, a jurist specialised in family law and professor of Comparative Law of Minors at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
The recognition of mothers' human rights began in the mid-20th century. In 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaimed equal rights for men and women and explicitly gave 'motherhood' a special right to 'care and assistance'. In 1966, mothers were further recognised by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which expanded the rights associated with motherhood to include not only the period of pregnancy, but also before and after. It also stipulated that mothers should receive paid leave or, at the very least, adequate social security benefits during such periods. The protection of mothers' human rights was further strengthened in 1979, with the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) by the General Assembly.
