Mother’s Day is usually sold to us as flowers, brunch and a quick social media tribute, but the deeper Mother’s Day story is far bigger than retail and restaurant bills. In the United States alone, spending tied to the day has been estimated at about US$34 billion, which says a lot about how commercial the celebration has become.
That kind of spending was exactly what Anna Jarvis, the woman credited with founding the modern version of the holiday in 1908, later came to oppose. She created the day to honour her mother, Ann Jarvis, a West Virginia activist who believed mothers should be recognised for their public work, not just their private sacrifices.
Ann Jarvis had founded Mothers’ Day Work Clubs, where local mothers organised collective workdays to support families with education and practical help. When the Civil War broke out, those clubs shifted their focus to peace and reconciliation, providing food and medical care to both Union and Confederate soldiers.
That history matters, because it shows that from the start, Mother’s Day was never meant to be only about tea, gifts and family lunches. It was also about women as civic leaders, peacemakers and organisers in communities torn apart by conflict.
As a scholar of Greek and Roman antiquity explains, the role of mothers has long stretched far beyond the home. Across centuries, motherhood has been linked not only to childbirth and raising children, but also to protecting the wider community, especially through calls for peace.
That idea appears in texts as far back as the fifth century B.C.E. In Aristophanes’ comedy “Lysistrata,” the women of Athens band together in an effort to end the Peloponnesian War. The play’s peace movement argues that women suffer twice over in war: they bear children, only to see them sent off to die.
In the ancient world, motherhood was also a source of real power inside the family and beyond it. If a woman gave birth to a son, she secured an heir for the household and strengthened her standing in the marriage.
Classical scholar Florencia Foxley has explained that motherhood could elevate a woman to the role of protectress and sustainer of the city, because she was bringing future citizens and soldiers into the world. That made mothers politically meaningful, even in societies that tried to keep them outside formal power.
The same dual role is reflected in the worship of the Greek goddess Hera, wife of Zeus and queen of the gods. Hera was honoured in wedding rituals, while her daughter Eileithyia was associated with childbirth and midwifery.
But Hera was not limited to the domestic sphere. She was also worshipped as the divine protectress of the city of Argos, showing how ancient cultures tied maternal figures to both the household and the survival of the state.
Mother’s Day and the deeper meaning of peace
In Rome, Hera’s counterpart Juno carried the same kind of layered significance. She was worshipped as Pronuba, the goddess of marriage, and as Lucina, the goddess of childbirth. At the same time, she was part of the Capitoline Triad with Jupiter and Minerva, the gods who protected the city.
Roman tradition even credited Juno with helping save Rome from a Gaulish attack in 390 B.C.E., after her sacred geese warned the Romans about the enemy’s approach. That story, whether myth or memory, reinforces the ancient idea that mother figures were also defenders of the community.
Those associations have not disappeared. In modern spiritual and political movements, women still draw on mother figures as symbols of peace, protection and resistance to violence. Some neo-pagan traditions, for example, look back to mother goddesses as part of a more peaceful and balanced way of life.
These groups often connect feminine divinity with demilitarisation, environmental harmony and world peace. The message is familiar: women’s power is not just personal or domestic, but public and political.
The idea also appears in activism inspired by “Lysistrata”. In 2003, peace campaigners Kathryn Blume and Sharron Bower organised more than 1,000 readings of the play in a single day to protest the Iraq War. It was a striking reminder that ancient texts can still speak directly to modern conflict.
Of course, the play is not a straightforward feminist manifesto. It mocks female characters and ultimately makes clear that women’s political power is partly imagined. Yet even as satire, it recognises a truth that still holds today: women bear a disproportionate share of the suffering caused by war.
That is not just a historical point. Around the world now, women continue to experience the worst effects of displacement, hunger, violence and family breakdown when conflict erupts. The ancient insight remains painfully relevant in 2026, and it is one reason the conversation around Mother’s Day should be broader than gifts and greetings.
Research from King’s College London has also suggested a practical link between women’s political power and peace. According to the study, states where women hold more political influence are less likely to go to war and less likely to commit human rights abuses.
That finding gives weight to the old cultural idea that mothers and women more broadly are not only caretakers, but also stabilising forces in society. It supports what many communities have always understood: when women are heard in public life, societies tend to be safer and more accountable.
Religious traditions have carried similar symbolism. Around the world, Catholics honour Mary as a maternal figure connected to peace and justice. One of the most powerful examples is Our Lady of Guadalupe, especially revered in Mexico and across Latin America, particularly among people of Indigenous descent.
She is often depicted pregnant and turned to by devotees seeking protection and peace. In 1979, Pope John Paul II prayed to Our Lady of Guadalupe to “grant peace, justice and prosperity to our peoples”, underlining the long-standing link between motherhood and public wellbeing.
All of this points to the same conclusion: the modern, commercial version of Mother’s Day misses much of what the day was meant to represent. Honouring mothers for the care they give at home is important, but the original vision was wider.
Anna Jarvis imagined a day that recognised women as moral and political actors, especially as agents of peace. If we take that history seriously, then Mother’s Day should not only be about appreciation — it should also be about acknowledging the full power women hold in shaping families, communities and even nations.