Leading up to Mother’s Day on May 13, the Huffington Post’s “Global Motherhood” section, in partnership with Mothers Day Every Day, an initiative of the White Ribbon Alliance and CARE, is publishing opinion pieces from a diverse group of people. The following are summaries of two of those opinion pieces.

• Carla Koppell, “Huffington Post’s “Global Motherhood”: “Gradually, the world is becoming aware of enormous contributions women around the world make every day to their families, communities, and societies,” Koppell, senior coordinator for gender equality and women’s empowerment at USAID, writes, adding, “At the same time, we are becoming better acquainted with the staggering obstacles women in some places need to overcome simply to survive.” She discusses some of these obstacles and writes, “Today, the global community is striving to end preventable maternal mortality within a generation. … At USAID, we believe that every child should have the same opportunity to survive and thrive.” Koppell concludes, “By working together, we can raise awareness of the need to ensure promising futures for women, as well as the girls and boys they help shepherd toward bright futures” (5/10).
• Babatunde Osotimehin, Huffington Post’s “Global Motherhood”: Osotimehin, executive director of UNFPA, pays tribute to his mother and writes, “I want to take the opportunity of Mother’s Day to encourage everyone to remember and honor not only their own mother, but all mothers.” He continues, “When women are healthy and educated and can participate fully in society, they trigger progress in their families, communities and nations. … Yet, women continue to face widespread discrimination and violence.” He writes, “They lag behind men in access to education, land, credit and decent jobs; they hold far fewer policy making roles; and they continue to lack sufficient access to reproductive health services such as modern family planning, skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care, if things go wrong,” and concludes, “On this Mother’s Day, let’s all pledge to do our utmost to make maternal death and inequality a thing of the past. Let’s make motherhood safe. Let’s make our mothers proud” (5/10).