Kela King had two children by the time she was 17 years old. She dropped out of high school, received her GED, and for 13 years has struggled to complete her college degree as a working mother.

When King, now 35 and a mother of three, failed two classes last year because she was focused on her children’s needs, she wondered if she was ever going to graduate. But with the support of the student parent success program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee — which helped her navigate her studies while working — she hopes to walk across the stage in December 2026.

“I’m building this legacy,” King said. “Even if I don’t get to where I want to be, you’ll be able to see the legacy just in the building.”

For King and many other student parents, attending college can be a very tough road. Obstacles like financial stress, balancing coursework with family responsibilities and finding affordable, quality child care make it difficult for students raising children. 

Parents make up about and according to , which provides research and resources for pregnant and parenting students. They represent a diverse population, including a significant share of , , and individuals from Student parents face especially steep challenges and are than those without children to leave college before completing their degrees.

These students have unique needs, and a growing body of points to that colleges and universities can take to help them flourish and graduate. Successful practices include: Offering child care on or near campus with financial assistance to cover or subsidize the cost; providing access to food and other basic necessities; building a student parent support center; and creating opportunities for peer community building. 

There’s a key — Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) — that helps colleges and universities support students like King by subsidizing child care and funding support services for student parents. But the program has come under threat recently. Last year, the federal government abruptly CCAMPIS grants for about a dozen colleges that depend on the funding. 

The future of the program’s funding has been precarious for some time, but in February, after facing potential elimination under the Trump administration for months, Congress approved the final 2026 federal budget, maintaining CCAMPIS funding at , the same as it was in 2025. This brought relief to some higher education institutions, but not for the colleges that saw their grants terminated.

Financial cuts to programs that support student parents will certainly hamper efforts to serve these students — especially through child care — but advocates say there are actions campus leaders can do to help them persist and thrive.

“Child care is huge, but it’s not the only thing that’s necessary for parenting students to be successful,” said Nicole Lynn Lewis, executive director of , a nonprofit that supports student parents in college. “We also want to see, across the institution, real intentionality around supporting these students. And sometimes that’s low hanging fruit at no cost or low cost.” 

For example, if a higher education institution simply shows student parents in its marketing material, it would send a message “that I belong here,” she said.

While more research on outcomes is needed, said Theresa Anderson, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, some have shown that initiatives such as a student parent resource coordinator, regular peer meetings and monthly stipends help by increasing graduation rates and offering a . Anderson has also found in her that parents who receive a college degree typically earn more than those of similar socioeconomic status without a degree, which suggests the importance of bolstering support for student parents. 

The question for colleges and universities is how to translate research on what helps student parents thrive into reality — and in ways that suit their specific type of institution. About half of student parents attend community colleges, while 20% attend private, for-profit institutions and a combined 29% attend public or private nonprofit institutions, according to by the SPARK Collaborative. They tend to have as high or higher grade point averages than their non-parent peers, but they are also to graduate from college within six years than those peers. 

Changing that dropout rate is one of the goals of Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland. Over the past four years, it has stepped up its services for student parents. The institution’s progress includes big-ticket items such as reopening its child care facility — which closed during COVID — and starting a that offers scholarships and wraparound services, including case management and academic coaching. Howard has also offered changes resulting in smaller, but still significant benefits, such as priority class registration.

For its efforts, the college last year was awarded a by Generation Hope. The seal, which the organization has given to 22 higher education institutions and nonprofits, recognizes “exemplary, measurable efforts in supporting parenting students.”

Celeste Ampaah, 23, and the mother of a 5-year old, said she first felt unseen on the Howard college campus. “I didn’t even know that there were any other parents on campus, especially people that were my age,” she said. And she wasn’t aware of the resources the college offered. 

She was leery about letting her professors know she had a child, afraid it would seem like she was asking for special privileges or making excuses.

“I just stopped going to class if I had a hardship,” she said. 

But that changed once she connected with Howard’s resources for student parents and became a parent scholar. Now she proudly carries the backpack that proclaims “Student Parent” below the Howard logo and reaches out to other parents. 

“I’m not ashamed anymore,” she said.

Priority class registration is one benefit Ampaah says is an enormous help. “Being able to plan my classes and work around my schedule before everyone else jumps on board feels like a luxury,” she said. 

There is room for improvement, she noted, including displaying resources for parents on the college’s website more prominently, and training faculty and staff to be more aware of student parents on campus and the difficulties they face.

Some of the obstacles that affect student parents, such as transportation costs, also impact many low-income students, so the goal is to connect those students with the services already available, said Maya Mechenbier, a fellow at the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation at Georgetown University who co-authored a recent of the needs of student parents in Maryland. 

In an interview for the study, Mechenbier recalled, “one mother shared that having to walk across campus or use public transportation while quite pregnant was a big barrier for her. Had she known about transportation subsidies sooner, she might have not had to drop out at that time.”

For that reason priority parking for student parents is a welcome benefit, something California Polytechnic State University (CalPoly), a four-year university that is part of the California State University system offers. 

The university has also garnered the FamilyU Seal for its parent-friendly services. Much of the institution’s progress has been led by Tina Cheuk, an associate professor of education, who was a student parent herself when in graduate school at Stanford University.

It was about a decade ago, and she felt completely isolated, Cheuk said. She recalled asking for a quiet place to breastfeed her daughter — a lactation room — and being told it simply wasn’t possible.

She threatened to file a case with the U.S. Office of Civil Rights and ultimately received the space she needed. And that started her on the road to become a student parent advocate at Stanford and later at Cal Poly.

A student parent at Cal Poly won’t run into Cheuk’s problem today, as the university now offers . There is also on-site child care and a coordinator for student parents within the student affairs office. In addition, there are community events for families — and at graduation, children receive some regalia and walk across the stage with their parents.  

Some of these supports are mandated under California state law, which that public colleges and universities give student parents priority registration and provide a “clearly visible” on the institution’s website outlining resources available to such parents, as well as a designated support person.

The law, Cheuk said, “serves as a minimum. But if all can meet that minimum, that is a signal to potential students that there are resources.”

More states and colleges are recognizing that in order to serve student parents, it’s important to about their lived experiences. But one of the sticking points around serving this population, experts say, is simply identifying who they are.

There is no federal mandate to collect such numbers and a tool that many colleges used — a question on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form that asked if students had dependents — when the form was simplified for the 2024-25 academic year. 

While the FAFSA number wouldn’t have included international students or those who didn’t apply for financial aid, it was one data point.

“Without such data, it’s difficult to understand the characteristics of those students, which programs they’re in, and where they’re facing roadblocks and barriers,” Anderson said.

Five states — California, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon and Texas — requiring student parents to be counted. The Urban Institute has awarded grants to 23 higher education institutions, including Cal Poly, through its , as an effort to develop best practices for colleges to identify student parents in their data systems. 

For example, Cheuk said students could be asked if they have dependents when filling out an intake enrollment; California community colleges already do that during their application process. 

Some colleges — even ones that implement best practices — are struggling in the face of rollbacks. UW-Milwaukee has had an on-site child care facility for more than 50 years and a longstanding wraparound and scholarship program aimed at serving student parents, said Rachel Kubczak, the manager of UW-Milwaukee’s who has been working with student parents at the institution for the past decade. She is also King’s advisor.

The child care facility is still operating robustly, but when UW-Milwaukee last year, Kuczak said, many students had to scramble to cover the child-care subsidies they lost through that program or simply reduce their child-care hours, which affected their ability to work and go to classes.

In addition, the university’s wraparound program was supported through one generous grant from 2005 that ended in 2021. That left Kubczak, as the only full-time staff member, struggling to figure out how to serve these students. 

But even without the funding she needs, Kubczak offers crucial types of support — often partnering with other campus centers — such as welcome orientations, coffee and pastry mornings, parenting workshops and assistance in navigating the system.

And she can chalk up some wins, she said, such as getting diaper changing decks in most bathrooms on campus, as well as safe and comfortable lactation rooms. 

There are also success stories, like King’s, Kubczak added. King, who is majoring in social work and minoring in American Sign Language is on track to graduate this year.

“As a teen mom, I’ve been counted out by family members saying I couldn’t do it,” said King. But Kubczak “pushed me and supported me.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Kela King’s job and marital status. She’s currently married and working at a nonprofit.

Sarah Newberry Moore had long believed that motherhood would mark the end of her career sailing at the world championship level. A five-time national champion, she didn’t know of many women who had made it to the Olympics as mothers, even as many of her male peers competed at the highest level while raising children.

But then COVID hit, and her sailing competitions — and the 2020 Olympic Games — were . As the months went on, she realized she didn’t want to stop sailing, even though she wanted to have a baby. The widespread lockdowns had presented a rare window in which she didn’t have to choose. She recalled thinking: “Who made this rule? I’m going to do both.” In 2021, her son Iren was born. And then, three years later, he was at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris to cheer his mom on as she competed with the U.S. Sailing Team. 

Women have been competing in the Olympics when they were first granted access to participate, but it’s taken decades for pregnancy and parenthood to be acknowledged as a natural part of an elite athlete’s path — and policy still hasn’t caught up. 

Though Newberry Moore said it’s becoming more common to bring children to the Olympics — and she is in touch with several athlete-mothers competing in this year’s Milano Cortina Games who are doing so — she described how hard it was to bring Iren to the Olympics in 2024.

The children and families of athletes have historically . Athletes who stay in the Olympic Village typically have their room and board covered; those who want to bring their kids along need to make — and pay for — other arrangements for housing accommodations and child care.

During the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, for the , a was set up where parent athletes could visit with their children in the “nappy/diaper-wearing age.” There was also dedicated private space for breastfeeding. But Newberry Moore’s sailing competition was in Marseilles, not Paris, and the satellite Olympic Village where she was staying didn’t have a nursery. So Newberry Moore could only see Iren when her husband could bring him to visit; she would leave the hotel and give him a hug, and then return. He couldn’t go to her room and it was incredibly hot, so their visits were brief. 

“If my husband had been allowed to bring my kid into the room of the hotel, I could have spent actual recovery time with him,” she said. Newbery Moore in the Olympics, but skipped the closing ceremony — which the rest of her teammates attended — to reunite with her family. Out of the 13 athletes on the U.S. Sailing Team, she was the only mother.

For the 2026 Winter Olympics, there will be even fewer options for athlete parents. There will be during The Games. A spokesperson from the International Olympic Committee confirmed that there will also be no permanent breastfeeding facilities within the Olympic Villages, but “a certain number of bookable spaces will be made available in each Village, which may be used for breastfeeding, among other purposes.” 

These spaces matter a great deal for Olympic athletes because many are inclined to bring children along, rather than be separated for weeks, or in some cases, months. For breastfeeding mothers in particular, these spaces are not a luxury but a necessity.

As an Olympic medalist and mother of three, Alysia Montaño has been a vocal advocate for women in sports for years. She founded For All Mothers+ (formerly &Mothers), a nonprofit focused on dismantling the motherhood penalty that women face in all industries, including sports, and adopted better standards to help address it. 

Her organization provides for athlete moms — including the “Bring the Babies Changemaker Grant” — a $5,000 grant intended to help cover “essential family travel costs” which can include airfare, lodging and child care. Newberry Moore was a grantee in 2024, and this year, five athletes competing in the Milano Cortina Games have received funds from the grant.

The grants are “a crutch for a broken system,” Montaño said. While interviewing some of the grantees gearing up to compete in Italy to learn more about their experiences, she said, it became clear that the funding plays an important role “in alleviating maternal and child stress. Reflecting on her conversations with athlete moms, she said, that “being able to stay with their children is the very best support system so that our athletes can go out and be the very best they can be.”

Kelly Curtis, a skeleton athlete competing in this year’s Winter Olympics with the USA Bobsled & Skeleton (USABS) Team, is one of the grant recipients. In an with Montaño, Curtis explained that she regularly brings her daughter, Maeve, to competitions. “She comes with me wherever I go,” she said. For the 2026 Winter Games, Curtis will forgo staying in the Olympic Village, because she doesn’t want to be separated from her daughter. Instead, she will be staying off-site at a hotel. The cost is 700 euros a night, for 17 nights, she told Montaño, noting that she has to pay fully out of pocket. 

Tabitha Peterson Lovick, a member of the U.S. Olympic Curling Team and another grant recipient, Montaño that having a “little bit of baby time” will be good for her mental health during her competitions. She is staying in the Olympic Village, but her daughter, who is traveling with her husband and in-laws, is staying off-site. “I really want to have that time with my baby, even if it’s just 30 minutes.”

Kaillie Humphries Armbruster, an Olympic bobsledder, and another member of the USABS Team, called the grant “a huge relief,” in an with Montaño, and explained why it’s so important for her to have her baby there. “When I go to race, it will have been hours since I’ve seen him,” she said. “He could care less how I do every single time, but he’s just so excited. He like runs over and he just — he wants Mom. And I’m excited to end an Olympics and have that.”

For mom Olympians, challenges go beyond child care

Women’s participation in the Olympics has been over the decades, but it wasn’t until the 2024 Paris Olympics that The Games achieved among athletes.

While it’s not uncommon for men to have both professional athletic careers and children, it is a much harder road for women who must pause their training and competition schedule to have children. According to an ongoing , conducted by For All Mothers+ and Carleton University’s Health & Wellness Equity Research Group, 73% of mom athletes experienced a decrease, termination or pause in funding related to pregnancy or motherhood, and 72% of respondents reported needing additional income or employment outside of their sport to support their family. 

The key goal for gathering this data, Montaño said, is “to influence policy changes more broadly across the sports industry. There are biases with the motherhood penalty that we are looking to shift.” It’s bigger than sports though, she explained. She’d like to see the narrative change for all mothers in all industries. “The podium moments for athlete mothers are podium moments for all mothers.”

Montaño has publicly shared about her own when she was pregnant in 2014.

In 2022, after several high-profile Olympic athletes, including Montaño, Allyson Felix, Kara Goucher and Elana Meyers Taylor the disparity, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) directed the National Governing Bodies (NGB) of each sport to for pregnancy and postpartum time periods, allowing athletes who announce they are pregnant to have their stipends and for up to a year after the birth of a child. 

Newberry Moore said these provisions are game changers. “It makes it possible for you to imagine returning, and it creates the climate needed for retaining female athletes.”

A number of athletes have continued pushing for change beyond those provisions. 

In 2022, Felix and Montaño, two world-class American track and field Olympians, started an initiative to in the in Eugene, Oregon. Felix, who went on to be a , has said that the is “the biggest barrier” to women continuing to compete at a high level. 

Kristine David, a spokesperson for For All Mothers+ explained that the recent on isn’t because there weren’t mothers who could compete before, but because “they just got forced out too early because they didn’t see a path forward with the infrastructure in place for them, such as getting their health care cut off, or not being able to bring nursing babies to competitions.” She added: “We are making headway with the USOPC and other NGBs, but there’s still a long way to go to making maternal support standard at The Games. Our hope is that by the Summer 2028 Games, we will see ourselves as obsolete, and all provisions become standard.” 

Montaño underscored that point and expressed the disappointment that there will be no nursery this year. “We are looking for consistent and reliable change that parents can rely on,” she said.

After the 2024 Olympic Games, Newberry Moore found out she was pregnant, this time with baby boy Rocky. She had a contract to continue with the U.S. National Sailing Team so she called her performance director and asked if she could defer by a year. But there was no specific language in her contract to protect her decision; a deferral would be at the discretion of the performance director. “I really think you guys should put this in writing,” she recalled saying to her director. “If she hadn’t had agreed to defer the contract, the idea of coming back is insane to me. It would have been a year of resources I couldn’t have used because I was growing a baby in my body.”

“There are, of course, many things one can do for the individual mothers in their life, but I’d like to encourage you to take action on behalf of all mothers. Because let’s face it, mothers in this country face many systemic challenges, and those challenges demand systemic solutions. I know this seems daunting, but a good place to start is to simply choose one issue that affects moms in this country (and matters to you) and engage in one advocacy activity related to that issue, such as placing a call to your elected official, writing an op-ed or even posting on social media.”

—Dr. Dana L. Suskind, founder and co-director of , and author of

“Mothers and caregivers are rarely recognized—much less compensated for our various forms of motherwork (including education, othermothering, community care work and other forms of social activism). The way to make the world better is to protect us and our children from oppressive systems that limit access to equitable education, child care, health care, housing and paid leave to support our children and our own sense of well-being.”

—Crystasany Turner, assistant professor in the Department of Teaching & Learning at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

“The one thing we can all do to make the world better for mothers is to encourage them to show up as their selves. By this I mean supporting them as they are being true to themselves, stimulating their spirit of confidence, plus honoring and respecting their beliefs and practices. This is how we can not only make it better for them but build a commUNITY of belonging!”

—Margo Ford Crosby, director of pre-K and before/after school for the Alamance-Burlington School System’s Early Learning Community

“One thing we can do to make the world better for mothers is to expect of fathers what we expect of mothers. I know a few primary caregiver dads, and many partners, including my own, striving for more equity; but until fair play is the norm, our mothers and daughters won’t reach their full potential in terms of worldly success, and our fathers and sons are missing out on the gifts of connection and nurturing.”

—Anya Kamenetz, senior advisor at

“The world will be a better place for mothers when the voices of all mothers are heard and honored. Birthing and parenting experiences should not be wrought with societally imposed barriers.”

—Dawn Shanafelt, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Division of Maternal & Infant Health

“I would encourage everyone to welcome asylum seekers and refugees into their community. The first few years of motherhood are challenging for everyone, but they are especially difficult for mothers who have had to flee their communities and build new lives in the United States. As a child of immigrants and a mother of two kids under four, I know how important it is to have access to child care and other early childhood resources. Part of welcoming refugee mothers is making sure that they have access to critical resources so their children can thrive.”

—Swapna Reddy, co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project

“Universal child care. Imagine how nice it would be if the U.S. joined the other industrialized nations in caring for our moms, dads and their children. Relieves financial stress, supports moms who want to work enter the workforce, helps all children thrive and makes financial sense. A win win win win.”

—Kathy Hirsh Pasek, professor of psychology, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and coauthor of

“One thing you can do to make the world better for mothers and their children is to become an advocate for a swift transition from fossil fuel, which is the root cause of climate change and air pollution that are seriously affecting the health of pregnant women, their babies and children. By speaking out to others, urging policymakers to implement climate and clean air legislation and by voting for representatives who take the threats to children’s health and future seriously, you can make a huge difference.”

—Frederica Perera, founder of the , and author of

“One thing the world can do for mothers is to remind them that they’re an inspiration. A mother’s job truly never stops! They do the cooking, cleaning and bill paying. They’re raising babies, wiping tears, worrying and praying for their children, even when they’re adults. So many never make time for themselves. They truly are an inspiration.”

—Rachel Campbell-Dotson, executive director at East Kentucky Dream Center

“This Mother’s Day, join an organization that advocates for care programs that support mothers and families, including the care they need for their children, themselves, and older or disabled loved ones.”

—Anna Shireen Wadia, executive director of the

“We can make our world a better place by committing to support all mothers—not just the ones who have historically and traditionally been uplifted and resourced. If we create a world where young Black and single mothers, who are disproportionately impacted by systemic oppression and racism in this country, are fully supported and thriving, then all mothers will benefit.”

—Nicole Lynn Lewis, founder and executive director of

“Please encourage more mothers to run for elected office. It’s no coincidence that the U.S. trails much of the world in women’s representation in policymaking bodies—from school boards to Congress—and lags in enactment of family-friendly policies, from paid parental leave and affordable child care to sensible gun laws. Studies show that women in office are more likely than their male counterparts to shape policies that support the health and wellbeing of everyone—especially children, women and families. Your vote matters in putting families first.”

—Atiya Weiss, executive director at

“All mothers wish for a world where their children’s dreams can be realized and even exceeded. The best gift we can give on Mother’s Day is to create and sustain a community that champions all children. No more inequities, no more barriers and no more excuses preventing each child from reaching their full potential.”

—Jennifer Headley-Nordman, president of

“One thing you can do to make the world better for mothers is to actively work towards creating a more equitable and just society that recognizes and values the unpaid and often invisible labor of motherhood. This can include advocating for policies that address the gender wage gap, promote affordable health care and education and support working families. Another way you can make the world better for mothers is to engage in acts of kindness and support towards the mothers in their own lives, whether it’s offering to help with child care, providing emotional support or simply expressing gratitude for all they do. These small actions can go a long way in making mothers feel valued and appreciated.”

—Stephanie Spencer, executive director of

“We make the world better for moms by making sure they have the time and support they need to take care of themselves and those they care for. Paid leave, affordable and quality child care options and access to mental health supports would make a big difference. Use your voice to advocate for the change mothers need.”

—Justine Davenport, director of advocacy at

“Advocate for things that would support moms and people giving birth, including accessible and affordable care pre- and postpartum, affordable child care and universal health care.”

—Marchel Marcos, political director at

Grose, a New York Times opinion columnist and former editor of their Parenting section, has written a part-memoir, part-history, part-reportage, part-manifesto that arrives at a moment when parents around the nation are not only contending with a vicious , but a . Her main thesis is as simple as it is powerful: when it comes to the ideals of modern motherhood, “the ideals as they are created now serve almost no one. They may serve industry, but they do not serve us or our families.”

Grose adds that these impossible ideals are also dangerously individualistic: “the contemporary set of expectations 
 don’t engage with the broader community in any way, shape or form. Rarely do babysitters, teachers, grandparents, aunties, uncles or friends appear in heralded images of motherhood that are beamed into our phones. If the pandemic taught us anything, it should have taught us that we need to invest in our local, national and international ties to raise the next generation.”

All of this is extraordinarily relevant for current discussions around the first five years of life. After tracing the evolution of American thought about mothers (from the are-you-kidding-me Colonial idea that a craving for a certain food would cause the baby to emerge with a head of that food, to the are-you-kidding-me idea that mothers’ emotional state caused miscarriages, leading one woman to be sterilized in 1953 simply because she had clinically extreme morning sickness), Grose turns to the pivotal last half-century.

Here, echoing Maxine Eichner’s , Grose shows how Nixon’s pointed veto of the 1971 Comprehensive Child Development Act combined with increased female labor participation led to the rise of the ‘Supermom’ model: “As professional mothers flooded the workplace in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, despite a basic safety net, the ‘supermom’—a star at work and at home—became the unrealistic ideal splashed on the cover of magazines.” Since then, Grose argues, the expectation pile has only grown somehow higher, nowadays including the fact mothers are supposed to be engaging in “self-care” — the responsibility, again, falling on their shoulders.

Grose’s work is continually nodding—implicitly or explicitly—to the disastrous way American motherhood is circumscribed and isolated. The choices mothers are offered around work and care are often no choices at all. Her chapter on work reminded me about the so-called “Mommy Wars” between working and stay-at-home mothers in which sociologist Melissa Milkie and her colleagues concluded, “an emphasis on choice deemphasizes the social aspect of the problem, instead individuating the problem and its solution to mothers themselves, thus leaving the weighty burden of responsibility for mothers to bear alone — and a symbolic wedge between them on other mothers.”

Of all the themes in the book, that one is arguably most telling for early care and education. There is a surprising around child care from parents, despite it being a pain point that goes broad and deep. Reading Grose’s book helped me better understand one aspect of why, perhaps one that would have been more evident were I a mother: the weight of our cultural ideals make every step toward demanding public support excruciating and transgressive. As Grose summarizes one interviewee’s perspective, “Mothers are trained to feel like they should be grateful for whatever they get.”

That’s why the final chapter of the book is a refreshing burst of hope. Grose points out the progress that has been made, and highlights promising parents, politicos and policies — the last of which, including affordable child care and robust paid family leave, are frustratingly distant but not unfathomably out of reach. One walks away from Grose’s book feeling as if we have come through hell and high water when it comes to American motherhood, but that with a concerted effort we may just find our way to solid ground. As Grose puts it, “We need allies in our lives, in our workplaces and in our government who are going to use their power to make the United States a friendlier place for our families.” This book will make you a better early care and education advocate and a better ally, and anyone will be better off for reading it including, if not especially, men.

“Our philosophy of change,” Saujani explains, “is that if you can teach the hardest-to-reach girls, the students that everybody has counted out, you can teach anybody.”

There was no WiFi at the camp, so Saujani and her team were trying to teach refugee girls the fundamentals of computer science through dance. Religious structures forbidding dance threatened to block off this methodology, but then Saujani noticed the girls closing the blinds. “And they just started dancing like I have never seen. In that moment, they were just free,” she recalls.

Schaumburg, Illinois, in 1987, was an unlikely place and time to launch a social movement. Homogeneity defined the decade and the Chicago suburbs where I grew up.

Saujani, the daughter of Indian refugees from Uganda, had other plans. At 12 years old, she started an after-school club called Prejudice Reduction Interested Students Movement—PRISM for short—and led a march to reduce racism in the school and the community. “Growing up brown in a white town had a profound effect on me,” she recalls. “I was so mad that my parents named me Reshma. Nobody could pronounce it. I would think, ‘Why didn’t you name me Rebecca or Rachel or something that would be on one of the little key chains at Kmart?’”

Her classmates teased and bullied her, and xenophobic vandals targeted her house. “I remember just watching my dad quietly wiping off the words with Clorox. He seemed to regard such ordeals as social tax to being in this country. And I very much remember looking at him thinking, I will never be like that.”

Looking back, she sees these experiences as a gift, “because they really helped me find my voice, and it galvanized my passion for fighting for racial equality, racial justice and the underdog.” Her father’s quiet tolerance in the face of having his home vandalized may have disappointed her, but he also inspired her through books. She remembers him reading aloud from “these little Reader’s Digest books that were about Eleanor Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi and other change makers. I was just inspired by those stories. Since I was a little girl, I felt very much like that was my dharma. That is what I was put on this earth to do, to make a difference.”

The passion to build and sustain Girls Who Code started with a vision. “Girls are changemakers,” insists Saujani. “Girls will heal us, save us and lead us. If they’re going to solve COVID, cancer and climate, they’re going to need technology and coding in their arsenal.”

Saujani describes nearly 10 years of organizational growth as the story of discovering girls who hear about the vision and say, “Yes, that’s me,” as well as parents who say, “Yes, I want to support my daughter with that” and teachers who say, “Yes, I have this student who is in the library all day long, and she would be great for that movement.” Under the leadership of CEO Dr. Tarika Barrett, the organization reaches students all over the world through clubs, immersion programs and remote learning.

Girls Who Code, Saujani often notes, is about more than expanding the female workforce in the technology sector. Since technology is changing every industry, these girls are destined to leave an impact on education, government, the arts, business—you name it.

During the global pandemic, the same determination and entrepreneurial spirit that ignited the creation of Girls Who Code, also took Saujani in a new direction “Droves of moms were being forced to leave the workforce because schools were closed,” she recalls, “or they were in jobs that weren’t pandemic-proof. Moms were really asked to be these perfect martyrs and not to complain and to just do everything.” Moms, especially moms of color, suffered disproportionately during the pandemic.

Saujani decided the time was ripe for a new movement. calls for U.S. mothers to be adequately compensated for their unseen labor. She says it’s about calling attention to longstanding assumptions—and daring to imagine alternatives to treating mothers as America’s social safety net—as much as it is about passing legislation.

and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tammy Duckworth, the Marshall Plan for Moms has gained endorsements from a wide range of national leaders. “The problem has been simmering beneath the surface for a long time, but we’re at the point where we require bold and decisive action,” stated Kimberly Churches, CEO of the American Association of University Women.

Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO of MomsRising, said, “This resolution should be a blueprint for lawmakers working to help moms, families and our country recover.” Celebrities and activists including Julianne Moore, Amy Schumer and Gabrielle Union have signed on to the plan.

“The big revelation that I’ve had after this past year,” Saujani says, “is that you can’t get gender justice in the workplace, unless you have gender justice at home.” After decades of feminism, she notes, the majority of housework is still done by mothers. It’s still deeply American to believe that’s just the way it is.

Saujani says Girls Who Code and Marshall Plan for Moms were both conceived as movements. “In both cases,” she says, “there’s a bigger vision to galvanize people and get them to be a part of it.” Like many women leaders, Saujani has found that sharing personal stories is a way of inspiring others and mobilizing action. “I’ve had lots of life challenges,” she says. “I probably talk to a woman who’s struggling with infertility, every day. The ability to help heal other people by discussing your own pain can be really powerful.”

“American mothers have lost nearly 30 years of progress in the workforce over the last year. This Mother’s Day, let’s build a robust care infrastructure: child care and early learning for all; paid leave for all and long-term services and supports for our aging population and people with disabilities. We have a lot of lost ground to make up and it’s past time we got started.”

—Julie Kashen, director of women’s economic justice and senior fellow at The Century Foundation

“To be listened to, valued and supported so that they can have reproductive and sexual well-being. Mothers deserve justice and joy.”

—Joia Crear Perry, president of National Birth Equity Collaborative

“Grace. The ability to be vulnerable is one that often times mothers are discouraged from doing and after a year in a global pandemic we need to give more grace to moms to be able to feel all the emotions of 2021.”

—Blanca Goetz

“Not just words but actions. I especially want to thank all the Black mothers, community Mamas, and early education providers who continue to help us heal during all the grief, trauma and tribulations, but also find joy and hope. I want for our country to truly thank our Black mothers and community Mamas by taking the burden, called racism and sexism, off their shoulders. Words of thanks are just not enough; actions that protect, promote and preserve their health, economic security and cultural excellence are needed even more so today.”

—Iheoma U. Iruka Thompson, founding director of the Equity Research Action Coalition, FPG Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill

“A lot more than flowers and gestures of gratitude. Despite this one day of celebration, our mothers are taken for granted every other day of the year. We need a national reckoning that acknowledges that in order to achieve gender equity we must value women’s unpaid labor. We need to compensate moms for the work we do, we need high-quality, affordable child care, we need paid family leave, we need pay equity, and we need policies that make it possible for the millions of women who had to leave the workforce during the pandemic to return to work if they choose to.”

—Reshma Saujani, founder of and the

“National policies and federal investment in families and children, and changes in the way we think about and value caregiving.”

—Lynette M. Fraga, CEO of Child Care Aware of America

“Our ongoing emotional support, resources and time to balance all of today’s demands on families.”

—Joan Lombardi, director of Early Opportunities

“Policies that allow them real choice in how to align their work and caregiving responsibilities, and a culture that doesn’t expect them to do each perfectly.”

—Elliot Haspel, author of and a contributor at Early Learning Nation

“A long nap. And after that, a supportive, well-paid village to help them care for and educate their children. It’s been more than a year of mothers working triple-time to provide for their families, school their children and run their households. Our child care system was abysmal and stressful before the pandemic, but for the last 14 months, it’s been absolutely unreasonable. I hope that this Mother’s Day, people pair their tokens of thanks to mothers with taking action to support policies that will help mothers thrive, 365 days a year.”

—Casey Stockstill, assistant professor of sociology & criminology at the University of Denver

“To get half a day off where they have no responsibilities and can go do whatever they want without any distractions or interruptions.”

—Claudia Bojorquez, director of Univision’s Social Impact Unit

“Moms all across America are their children’s first and most important teachers, and they deserve to be celebrated this Mother’s Day for all their tireless efforts in helping grow and develop our country’s future leaders.”

—Shane Garver, associate vice president of rural education at Save the Children

“To live in a truly family-friendly country. We deserve to be treated as full citizens where we make the same as our male counterparts, where there is no longer legislation with the goal of limiting our reproductive freedoms, and where our work at home and in the workplace are both valued as work.”

—Diana Limongi

“Understanding and support as they take on the tough and rewarding job of raising a baby. Paid family and medical leave to care; access to high quality, affordable child care; guidance and support in identifying and addressing developmental questions and concerns; and material support through tax credits and direct assistance programs, when needed, to navigate through those economically challenging years. In short, a society that cares about them, their babies and their family.”

—Matthew Melmed, executive director of ZERO TO THREE

“A hug, a nap, and a vacation… and policies that better support parents and families.”
—Marley Jarvis, Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the  University of Washington

“As the pandemic has highlighted, American mothers deserve equity. They deserve fairness in the workplace and equal compensation for equal work. They deserve access to affordable, high-quality preschool settings that permit for both their participation in the workforce and the safety and education of their children. They deserve paid family leave and access to health care. Above all, they deserve our unending respect.”

—Dan Wuori, senior director of early learning at The Hunt Institute

“To live in a country that is fulfilling its humanitarian duty to protect mothers and families seeking protection in the U.S.”

—Jennie Guilfoyle, deputy director of programs at (and my wife)

“The public’s gratitude as the too-often unrecognized heroes of the coronavirus pandemic. In the past year, mothers have borne a disproportionate share of the burden of work, domestic responsibilities, and managing their children’s learning and social emotional development. We have them to thank in perpetuity for the positive impact they will have had on this generation’s children during this time of global uncertainty.”

—Philip A. Fisher, Philip H. Knight Chair & professor of psychology at the University of Oregon

“Permission to take time for self-care. Over the past year, we’ve been running around, doing so much that it’s easy to forget that if you can’t take care of yourself, it’s hard to take care of others. That’s why I encourage the agency leaders, educators and parents that I work with throughout our Early Head Start & Head Start Network to come together to take care of ourselves, whether that be taking time at the beginning of a meeting to discuss what’s in our minds, fitting in a quick lunchtime walk or accessing available mental health supports.”

—Diana McClarien, vice president of the Early Head Start & Head Start Network at Start Early