In the march towards women’s rights, people with a celebrity platform have the power to shape conversations and change perceptions.
The very public pregnancies of powerful women like Beyoncé, Serena Williams, Cardi B and New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern make the case loud and clear that we can be both mothers and workers.
For a world that that has yet to shed the weight of archaic gender roles, seeing pregnancy anywhere except inside the home is still strangely transgressive.
Discrimination against women in the workplace is still rife in Australia (as everywhere), with about half of working mothers facing discrimination during pregnancy, parental leave or their return to work.
This week, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made headlines and history after giving birth to a baby girl, making her the second world leader in modern history to give birth while in office.
During the election Ardern drew attention for denouncing interviewers who probed about whether she planned to have children if elected, saying it’s “unacceptable” to ask any woman if motherhood will interfere with work or vice versa.
https://twitter.com/UptownGirlAlana/status/1009689120338112512
From the public announcement of her pregnancy to the public announcement of her daughter’s birth, Ardern has been completely unapologetic about choosing to have both a family and a career.
“I am not the first woman to multitask,” she said earlier this year in an interview with Radio New Zealand. “I am not the first woman to work and have a baby; there are many women who have done this before.”
The representation of those women from these platforms of power brings the world closer to accepting that women absolutely can do it all, if that’s their choice.
Welcome to our Village https://t.co/WPa8vLlrnz Dear Jacinda Ardern Congratulation from being a prime minister and a mother. We are all very happy for you and your baby because you baby creates a history of new zealand. We thank Clarke … pic.twitter.com/qJokomGtHf
— Manaiakalani Cluster (@clusternz) June 21, 2018
Another woman that has very openly embraced pregnancy and motherhood into her path to success is Cardi B.
The sudden take off of Cardi B’s music career has made her one of the biggest and most beloved celebrities in the world, and she has been adamant that having her baby will not slow her down or puncture her rising stardom.
Not only is Cardi B defiantly career-driven while pregnant, she’s also defiantly sexy. She revealed her pregnancy by performing on Saturday Night Live in a custom Christian Siriano dress that showed off all her curves, including her very prominent baby bump.
The right to be sexual is something society traditionally strips away from pregnant women, but Cardi continues to perform her iconically sex-positive raps on stage and be her same damn self while with child. Because hell yes we can.
Serena Williams is another cultural icon whose pregnancy became an international symbol of female strength. The tennis star made waves after revealing that she had won the 2017 Australian Open while several months pregnant, without so much as dropping a set.
Then we of course have Beyoncé, who has folded motherhood into her godlike image – from her iconic pregnancy announcements to performing on stage at the 2017 Grammys looking like a goddess with child.
Queen Bey has made a clear representation of pregnancy as something worthy of worship and respect and that makes an impact.
The list of powerful women putting motherhood in the spotlight goes on, and includes brave mothers like former Australian Senator Larissa Waters – who was the first person to breastfeed in Federal Parliament.
Their boldness is changing perspectives and moving us forward.
While seeing prominent women continue to excel as mothers demonstrates the incredible strength and resilience of mothers, the flipside is that this can feel like a very high bar set for others to multitask motherhood and work. So it’s important to remember that while women can work and parent, they don’t have to.
Pregnancy and motherhood is already a lot to take on board and even more so depending on the relative privilege of the family. Not everyone has the opportunity to choose both work and parenting.
Obviously not you, Kourtney.
But overall, having high profile women show the world that we can be both mothers and our own people benefits us all. Bit by bit, we’re burying the notion that becoming a mother makes you weaker, and acknowledging the undeniable strength of women, and the power to choose how we manage motherhood as just one part of who we are and what we do.