Interview: Why motherhood support is lacking – and what can be done

FemTech World meets Chelsea Robinson, founder of Mama’s Modern Village, to explore why motherhood support is currently not enough.

What do you think is missing in the world of motherhood?

It wasn’t until I became a mom myself that I realised what was missing in the world of motherhood. Once I became a mother I was sitting there asking myself ‘who am I in my career?’ And thinking about how the relationship changed with my husband. What I mainly asked myself was ‘how do I navigate all these different aspects of me that I once felt so confident in that are now my undoing?’.

Mothers are incredibly lonely, and there’s so much of motherhood that we still don’t really talk about and have honest conversations around. There’s a lot of guilt and shame that comes in admitting our struggles, that comes in admitting that we don’t love every minute of motherhood. And so I think the goal of the Mama’s Modern Village app is to bring like-minded women and mothers together and have really honest conversations.

What should be done to improve motherhood support?

We need to expand our focus on what childbirth looks like so that it can include the mother as much as her newborn child. Then I think we also need to expand the definition of postpartum because once you’re postpartum you’re always postpartum. I think that a lot of moms of toddlers think that this time of their life is equally as difficult as when they had a newborn.

What specifically needs to be done?

We need affordable, reliable childcare. We need paid leave, we need postpartum support. All of this shouldn’t be considered as an extra but it should only be the foundation. We need work environments that are really understanding of what it means to be parents, and again, this should not only include those in 12 weeks postpartum. 

How can communities like Mama’s Modern Village change how women experience motherhood?

I think that a key difference at Mama’s Modern Village is that we really put the expertise back on the woman because the woman is the expert of what she needs and of what she wants in her life. The more we share our own experience, the more confident we’ll make other mothers feel in their journey.

What role does society play in motherhood?

A big piece that underlines how good a woman feels in her role as mom is based on the societal pressure and expectation that she should bounce back, on the pressure that she should lose weight, that she should enjoy every minute of motherhood etc. All of these are underlying cultural expectations of women as they transition to mothers.

Mama’s Modern Village offers a community aspect for mothers on similar journeys to share tips, help others and show support to others on their motherhood journey.