JUST a few weeks ago, one faithful Sunday (literally), I scored two feats in one day. The first was that I was up and about on a Sunday by 09:00hrs and the second, perhaps more noteworthy, was that my friend had convinced me to attend a church service.

Maybe it was the universe sending me a signal, but this service was incredibly interesting. An infant was baptised, there were candy and balloons (though I cannot recall why) and it was also ‘Mothering Sunday’.

Mothering Sunday, observed on March 11 this year is a precedent for the Mother’s Day I have grown up knowing. Grounded in Christian beliefs, the day sought to revere and celebrate mothers for all that they do. For me though, what it managed to do was put the role of mothers into perspective, particularly in the local and regional context.

At the church, women had established themselves as senior members of the congregation- effectively solidifying themselves as dominant characters in the church. At the same time, they functioned in other capacities; as mothers tending to their children, as teachers for the Sunday school and as cleaners ensuring the aisles were ready for the service.

Each Mother’s Day, I would read all the spectacular stories of incredible mothers doing incredible things in Guyana. Mothers would be hailed for their unmatched contributions and sacrifices and that is all great, but would you believe me if I told you that there is something especially different about Caribbean mothers?

Let me introduce another experience. As a prerequisite for the subject, all Communication Studies students were required to conduct a research on any topic of their choice. A colleague chose ‘Caribbean Mothers’ and structured his exposition around the theme: “Caribbean Mothers: A Different Breed”. It was quite a provocative theme and coupled with just a bit of sociological studies, it proved to be profound as well.

G.P. Murdok (1949) posited that the nuclear family type was the ideal family structure since it was able to fulfill the functions of reproduction, satisfaction, economic cooperation and socialisation- all necessary for the group to remain functional in society.

While Murdok based his claim on research done in parts of the developed world, this ideology was subjective against the developing world. But due to the historical events that would have shaped our society, there was the emergence of another family type. This was the matrifocal, or ‘female-headed’ household which became ingrained in the very fabric of Caribbean culture.

This family type emerged amidst a harsh social life which encompassed a rigorous work regime that enabled male absenteeism, causing the husband/father to be marginal to the family. Mothers, therefore, have historically held the dual role, known quite well in Guyana, the role of mother and father, breadwinner and nurturer.

Pathological studies conducted by Frank Fraziers on the lower class African family highlights another dimension that the matrifocal had to contend with: Poverty. This was reflective of the race-class atmosphere that confronted the people, particularly the Africans.

This led to a breakdown of the functional structure that Murdok advanced and has been labelled as dysfunctional by many sociologists.Yet,the matrifocal family structure became the mechanism for women and children to survive in the face of male absenteeism and poverty that spurred from the plantation system.

Even in the face of lower access to jobs and the pervasiveness of limited education, Caribbean mothers have always strived to ensure their children would have a better life than them. They worked twice, maybe thrice as hard to ensure that education was afforded to their children because education is seen as the tool for social mobility.

The best illustration of this would be Guyanese poet, David Dabydeen’s poem: “Coolie Mother”. Though he makes specific reference to East Indian women, Jasmatie’s endeavours to ensure that her son went to school is undoubtedly a common trait among Caribbean and Guyanese mothers.

And by no means, has this pattern of dominant mothers due to matrifocality been left in the past, instead, they have only developed and further cemented their fortitude and independence as they penetrate the working field and rise above the glass ceiling.

Be it the Mother’s Day we are familiar with, or Mothering Sunday, Caribbean mothers have been made from an entirely different set of circumstances and ought to be celebrated every day of the year.