U.S. moms deserve more

Whatever you get her for Mother's Day, your mom will probably love it.

Flowers or breakfast, an original poem or something you grabbed at the gas station after learning just this minute that Mother's Day is today - she won't care, because you remembered.

She might even be satisfied with a kiss and an “I love you,” although you should bring that “World's Best Mom” mug, just in case. The woman has done a lot for you.

Some people pooh-pooh Mother's Day as a grand greeting card company conspiracy. It's true - it can get a little schmaltzy, especially for us practical Midwesterners.

We cringe our way through greeting-card poems about motherhood, looking for the one card that goes something like: “Mom, you gave me life ... So, really, you only have yourself to blame.”

Trust me, she'll love it - or at least she'll say she does.

The airy sentimentality of Mother's Day can seem far removed from the sometimes exhausting realities of motherhood.

I was thinking about that Friday when I came across Save the Children's annual “State of the World's Mothers” report. We dropped even lower in rank this year - of the 43 developed countries included in that report, the United States ranked 31st.

We lag behind nearly every industrialized nation in indicators of maternal and child health, in early childhood education, in women's earning power and political representation.

How's this for a thank you to this country's moms:

* At one in 2,100, the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any industrialized nation. A woman in the United States is more than seven times as likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than women in Italy or Ireland.

* Our child mortality rate - eight deaths per 1,000 births - is higher than nearly every other developed country - twice the rate in the nine highest-ranked.

* Only 58 percent of children in the United States are enrolled in preschool.

* The United States has the developed world's least generous laws for maternity leave; its women lag behind in political representation and income - we don't even use contraceptives as much as our peers.

The numbers are grim, but they can be changed. We just have to come up with fewer excuses and more resources for health care and education.

Less talk, more action - that sounds like the kind of advice your mother would give. Which reminds me: How are you going to thank her - with brunch? Oh, she'll love that.

Still, don't you think she deserves more?

Comments: (319) 339-3154; jennifer.hemmingsen@thegazette.com