Mums around world spend Mother's Day fighting injustice

Australia Broadcast Center

11-05-2025

On a weekend mothers traditionally spend being showered with gifts and celebrated by their families, thousands have instead hit the streets to protest against injustice and inequality.
It was action summed up by Mexican mothers' chants: "A mother doesn't give up."
From Mexico and Germany to Australia and Uganda, these were the mothers on the ground fighting for change.
In Mexico, thousands of women were holding flowers for a reason that had nothing to do with Mother's Day: Their children are missing.
Mothers took to the streets to demand authorities do more to uncover the whereabouts of their children.
Women were heard chanting, "A mother doesn't give up," and, "Son, your mother is in the fight," down the iconic Paseo de la Reforma avenue in Mexico City while carrying photographs of their missing children.
The demonstration focused not only on the thousands of missing children but also on the mothers who had been murdered while searching for them.
Protester Teresa Corona, whose son Héctor Adrían Águila Corona has been missing since 2023, said two searching mothers were killed in April alone.
"We are afraid of being in front of the cameras, but I do it for my son and until we find him," Ms Corona said in Spanish.
"We all deserve to find our children alive. Why do we have to live with fear?"
More than 124,000 people are missing in Mexico, according to government data.
Most cases are never solved, breeding a deep mistrust of authorities.
"They're people who disappear, not files, not documents; they are our children, our fathers, our mothers who have disappeared," said Janet Adame, mother of Pablo Jared Vallejo, who went missing in July last year.
In the past two decades, as officials have fought drug cartels and organised crime has tightened its grip in several states, it has been difficult to trace the causes and perpetrators of disappearances.
Human trafficking, kidnapping, acts of retaliation and forced recruitment by cartel members are among the reasons listed by human rights organisations.
Mothers rolled their prams in front of the Reichstag, the German parliament building in Berlin, on Saturday to advocate for equal rights.
Supporters gathered with a clear vision based on reports and scientific findings: "Mothers must finally take centre stage in social decision-making".
The mothers called for a parity law for equal representation in political bodies and a binding gender-impact assessment for all proposed legislation, among other demands.
Signs women held at the demonstrations had slogans including, "Who run the world? Mums," and, "My favourite season is the fall of the patriarchy,".
On Saturday, mothers rallied in cities across Australia to call for an end to violence against women.
Twenty-five women have been killed between January and May this year, according to data from Australian Femicide Watch.
One mother said the timing of the rallies, on the eve of Mother's Day, was particularly important.
"There are lots of kids tomorrow who don't have a mother … women that have been lost to violence," she said.
The woman said she brought her two sons along to a rally to help educate them about compassion and respect for women.
The protests, held in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart, were led by Indigenous-led not-for-profit organisation What Were You Wearing?.
The demonstrators asked for more government investment in trauma-informed training for first responders, nationally holistic consent laws, housing security, and bail reform to prioritise victim-survivor safety.
In Uganda, a group of mothers gathered on Wednesday to show their support for their LGBTQIA+ children and protest against the country's anti-homosexuality act.
Their children could face the death penalty or lengthy prison sentences if they are found to be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
"Ugandan mothers are speaking out to demonstrate that supporting the rights of LGBT people is not incompatible with family or African values," Larissa Kojoué, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, said.
"The Anti-Homosexuality Act does not just endanger LGBT individuals, it places serious strain on their families, particularly mothers, who are usually the primary caregivers and often bear the emotional and social consequences of their children's pain."
The mothers — who do not identify as activists and who Human Rights Watch did not name to protect their safety — wrote an open letter to President Yoweri Museveni, urging him not to sign the bill in 2023.
"We are not promoters of any agenda; we are Ugandan mothers who have had to overcome many of our own biases to fully understand, accept, and love our children," they wrote.
"This law shows us that we are not equal," one mother said.
The law was passed but the mothers continue to stand up.
ABC/wires