An Homage to Jamaican Mothers on Our Day 2025

Dear Mothers of Jamaica,

Beauty. Sensuality. Elegance. Authority. Patience. Discipline. Audacity. Fire... Motherhood.

As the women of WMW Jamaica, we salute you.

We came from you, we were raised by you, we are your daughters, your peers and your elders. We are your sisters, cousins, and neighbours. We are your students, teachers, care-givers and admirers, and we have been working, across generations, to address cultures of violence that devalue us all.

Since 1987, WMW Jamaica has stood up for gender justice, social equality and transformational leadership for women. We have been working, learning and contributing to create conditions of empowerment for our own healing, collective strength and dignity, in many spaces of Jamaican society. We have been working to honour and elevate ourselves as women, as mothers, and girl-children who are valuable and worthy to be valued. 

Mothers of this Land We Love, we have carried the responsibilities of the future through all the generations. With our best efforts - sometimes with persistent, loving success, sometimes with mistakes, disappointments, even regrettable harms - sometimes in conditions where motherhood finds us too overwhelmed to even ask for help.

As we mother through moments and seasons of joy, disappointment, challenge and promise we are responsible, and are never able to forget how much we are held responsible, for the future of our Jamaica: Responsible for how our cultures, values and vitality are borne into the children that will inherit our pasts, and shape our collective future. 

We know the multiple roles mothers play everyday, praying to thrive not just survive. Mothers keep families and communities breathing, growing and striving. We know we are paid only a portion of what men are paid in jobs of equal value. We know the second and third shifts of mothering labours, making sure everyone is fed, clothed, housed and schooled. We understand deeply that women’s equality is key to a peaceful and just society.

Some of us face the violence of devaluation and neglect, as much as the violence of fists, threats and sexual abuse. Many of us keep silent, focusing on the positive, the possible, the necessary, choosing to prioritize life in all its forms, enduring as we celebrate its wonders, joys, and beauties, and as we overcome its challenges. 

Jamaican mothers power this nation. We are on your side. We salute you.

A message from WMW Members and our project, WE Talk for the Reduction of Gender Based Violence. Together we are Fostering a Culture Toward Safety and Support for Jamaican women and girls. WE TALK FACTSS! The WE Talk project is sponsored by Global Affairs Canada and Oxfam Canada, in partnership with the Violence Prevention Alliance, Jamaica.