The World of Mothers: What motherhood looks like in Finland, Kenya, China and the U.S.
"CBS This Morning" took a look at what life is like for mothers in four very different places around the globe: Finland, Kenya, China and the U.S. In our four-part series, The World of Mothers, we explore how motherhood, childcare, childbirth and healthcare looks different – for better or worse.
Holly Williams showed us how Finland, consistently ranked one of the best places to be a mom and praised for its low infant and maternal mortality rates, is pushing to be even better. Williams learned that it costs less than $60 to have a baby there and talks to one doctor who says it's possible for the U.S. to do the same.
Alex Wagner explored motherhood in the United States. She meets a Massachusetts emergency room nurse and mother of two who did her best to prepare before her daughter arrived four weeks early via emergency C-section. She took on extra shifts, and even cashed out part of her 401(k), at a penalty, to keep her family afloat during her 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave.
Debora Patta visited a village in Kenya where women rule. Samburu is an extremely rural part of Kenya where there is rampant poverty and unemployment. The infant mortality rate is over 35 percent and a woman has a 95 percent chance of being beaten by her husband. But in the village of Umoja, life is different. The women there don't have a lot — but they have each other. And that's enough to make sure no child goes hungry, and growing up, they won't have to experience the torment their mothers went through.
Ben Tracy spent time with a family in China, where childcare is truly a family affair. Historically, multi-generational living has been seen as the cultural ideal in China, with several generations living under one roof. Today, grandparents share almost half of the childcare duties with mothers of two- and three-year-olds. It's a big part of why China has one of the highest rates of women in the workforce in the world.
