Manifesto for a Maternal Revolution
We will not apologise or ask permission; in fact we are not asking for anything.
We establish here and now that:
Our body is ours, not a public display, not an invention, not somebody else’s fashion.
Our pregnancy is ours and this is a time, more often than not, of health and happiness and not a time of continuous worry and fear.
Our labour is ours and it is a sacred time of transition that requires the utmost respect.
We will not be directed or managed
We should not accept intervention unless absolutely necessary and by midwives who understand and are informed about this need for respect.
Our milk is ours. It is irreplaceable and does not follow economic interests .
It’s our history, our art, our culture, our bond and our survival.
Our children are ours not of the state. Decisions about their upbringing and education must be free from political, economic or social pressures.
Our future is ours and women must also be free as mothers.
From the womb, from the guts and with a baby in our arms we demand:
1.The end of the promotion of false stereotypes of beauty invented by the fashion and pornography industries using computer-generated images.
2.The social integration of motherhood.
3.The normalization of the breast as the food source for our species and the essential physical contact necessary for both mother and baby.
4. To enable mothers to enjoy motherhood and breastfeeding without economic, political or social pressures.
5. That women give birth in freedom and without external pressure, i.e. at home or in hospital, and on their own terms being informed of their options.
6. No one can touch let alone feed our babies without permission and nobody can interfere in our space and time with our babies.
7. That the upbringing and education of our children is a social priority that needs to be re-evaluated and understood from the standpoint of respecting the physiological and emotional needs of children.
8. For infants and children to be loved and respected socially, any advertisement, publication or similar which implies that the child is a social nuisance is demeaning.
9. That the promotion and use of day care centers and nurseries in which to leave infants less than two years will be taking into account the physiological and feeding needs recommended by WHO and similar organizations.
If in order to follow these recommendations maternity/paternity leave needs to be extended, so be it.
10. That the family (regardless of the number of people and their gender) is respected and supported for what it is: the social base that generates the future.
Jesusa Ricoy-Olariaga
Facebook.com/Matriactivist
The manifesto was slightly edited on (18/04/14) to include as many participants as possible on the WOW movement