Motherhood as Infrastructure: why the world runs on invisible labor by Dr. Dee | Feminine Systems

We often speak of motherhood with poetic reverence

The womb as sacred, the mother as selfless, love as infinite.

But beneath the mythology lies something colder, more structural, and rarely acknowledged:

Motherhood is infrastructure.

It is the invisible scaffolding on which the world’s economy, households, and future generations stand. It is not merely emotional labor — it is productive, sustaining labor that the modern world exploits without naming, valuing, or paying for.

And this Mother’s Day, I invite you to see it not as sentiment, but as system.

The Economics of Invisible Work

Globally, women perform 3 to 6 hours of unpaid care work per day, compared to 0.5 to 2 hours by men. In India, that figure is even starker: Indian women do 10 times more unpaid care work than men, according to the NSSO.

What does this look like in practice?

• Cooking before and after office hours
• Managing school WhatsApp groups
• Keeping track of vaccinations
• Cleaning up after everyone’s emotional mess
• Mental load of birthdays, groceries, tuition fees, family feuds

None of this appears in GDP. Yet, if mothers stopped doing this tomorrow, schools would shut down, offices would lose workforce, economies would grind to a halt.

Why We Call It “Natural” (So We Don’t Have to Pay)

The reason this labor remains invisible is because it has been romanticized as instinct. Cultural narratives around why nature chose a woman to birth a child have made her believe it’s her indefinite responsibility and natural instinct.

Society says:
“She’s a mother, of course she’ll do it.”
“It’s in her nature.”
“She doesn’t mind. She’s used to it.”

But this is not biology. It’s social conditioning and role enforcement. As sociologist Arlie Hochschild described in “The Second Shift,” women are expected to work full-time and still come home to another full-time job — unpaid, unacknowledged, and emotionally draining.

This “second shift” is not optional. It is the price of admission to being seen as a “good mother” or the “ideal woman.”

From Sentiment to Structure

Motherhood isn’t just love. It’s logistics.
It isn’t just bonding. It’s backend.

And when we reduce it to “a blessing,” we strip it of power and refuse to reckon with what society owes mothers — not just in gratitude, but in supportive systems.

If a mother breaks down, the entire home ecosystem collapses. She is the load-bearing beam, and yet we treat her as soft decor. Maybe that’s why the patriarchy feared it and prevented women from thinking or acting out of their own agency. I reiterate: it’s a cultural myth and social conditioning.

What Needs to Change?

• Policy: Paid postpartum leave, childcare subsidies, and recognition of domestic labor and care in national budgets. While the national accounts have included household production in GDP since 1993, they have excluded unpaid care work.
  If there is no one to love or nurture, the entire mankind will be on anti-depressants and anti-psychotics.
  It’s unfair for capitalism to overlook structures of human well-being. No wonder care and wellness is going to be a $18 Billion global industry.
  We need to create policies, insurances, and subsidies to fund the care economy.
  According to a 2023 State Bank of India report, unpaid work is estimated to contribute approximately Rs 22.7 lakh crore (about 7.5% of GDP) to the Indian economy. Enhancing women’s labor force participation could potentially increase India’s GDP by 27%.
  Policymakers should invest in early childhood care and education like countries such as Belarus, Bulgaria, and Sweden to enhance women’s participation in the workforce.
• Partnerships: Men must be taught to carry equal weight, not “help” occasionally. Dignity of labor, care-providing, and unpaid domestic chores has to be cultivated and ingrained in culture and family upbringing right from childhood.
• Platforms: We need community-based ecosystems that don’t isolate mothers but mother the mother — emotionally, logistically, economically.
• Narratives: Stop idolizing martyrdom and sacrifice. Sacrifice is the most over-rated attribute for a mother. If you need to glorify her for what she contributes, tell her she is good enough and she has done enough. Ask her to prioritize her self-care.
  Celebrate boundaries, insist on delegation, and allow her to rest — and promote it as acts of strength and clarity. Attitude change across societies can occur only if the narratives change.

Mother Earth, Ignored Structurally

Referring to Earth as “Mother” or “Bhooma Devi” reflects mankind’s dependency on her — like a helpless child to a caregiver.
It’s a way to humanize nature, acknowledge our reliance, and evoke protection.
But like many mothers, she is revered symbolically and ignored structurally.

I’m Not a Feminist, But Don’t Kill the Feminine

Feminine is not about gender. It’s a power and a quality — the ability to create life, nurture, and give abundantly.

This Mother’s Day, A New Lens

Don’t just say “thank you.”
Say: “I see you. I see the system riding on your back.”
And then ask: “What part of it can I carry with you, build for you, or pay forward?”

Because the truth is: Motherhood holds up the world.
It’s time the world held it back.

Remember, if the feminine in the mother is lost, life will not be worth living.