Father's Day

Mother’s Day or Father’s Day? Hmmm. That’s a tough one. Not sure which one hurts more, though both do a terrific job of crystallizing the ever present reality that my kids’ mother, Galit, died five years ago and is never coming back. One might think that Mother’s Day would be the clear winner. Going to the cemetery to visit her grave and hearing my five-year old boy, Satya, curiously remark that we are going to see “Ema” (the Hebrew word for “mother”) is always painful. The fact that eating ice cream and looking at pictures over her grave is the only physical experience he has had, and will ever have, of his mother since she last kissed him before dying three days post-childbirth is crushing.

As people around the world celebrate Father’s Day, we should all remember that men cannot become fathers without mothers. For most people, becoming a father or mother is the greatest event in their lives. Yet tragically, every year hundreds of thousands of women (and shamefully even girls) die due to complications during childbirth. As described in detail on the Every Mother Counts website, the vast majority of maternal mortality can be prevented simply by ensuring all women receive proper maternal health care before, during, and after pregnancy.

The International Museum of Women, an online museum, is launching their latest exhibition: Papa. Papa explores the changing role of the modern dad, and will be the featured topic gallery through the end of June. In this new gallery, it discusses how fathers are adapting to changing family dynamics in cultures and countries around the world. The “Papa” gallery includes an essay by award-winning author Jeremy Adam Smith about how fatherhood has changed in the U.S., and what that means for families; a documentary by Zsuzsanna Geller-Varga called “Mr. Mom,” which follows a Hungarian family where the father is the primary caretaker; an interview with a man in Burundi who is defying misogynistic cultural expectations and opting for a more equitable marriage; and much more!