Frances McDormand’s Oscar speech is Hollywood’s new #momboss anthem

When celebrities bring their moms as their date to the Oscars, it never fails to make headlines. But wouldn’t it be great if more moms were at the Oscars because they were nominated?

Unfortunately, when we look at the individual categories for 2018, mamas aren’t well-represented.

Best Director was a mom-free category, the nominee list infamously all-male save for Lady Bird’s Greta Gerwig. And only one of the nine Best Picture nominees had a woman at the helm. (Again, Gerwig, who didn’t take home either award.)

Best Actress saw two moms (Frances McDormand and Meryl Streep) nominated, as did the best supporting actress category, where moms Lesley Manville and Laurie Metcalf got nods.

Thank goodness we had #momboss Frances McDormand there to represent—and, boy, did she ever.

The mom of one thanked her son, Pedro, during her acceptance speech for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Her love for Pedro (now in his early twenties) influenced her performance, because by playing a mom grieving her child, she was basically stepping into her worst fear.

“I didn’t give birth to my son, I met him at 6 months old, but from the minute I held him and smelled him, I knew it was my job to keep him alive,” she told the Belfast Telegraph earlier this year, noting how her experience as Pedro’s mom influenced her role in Three Billboards.

Playing a mom earned this mom an Oscar, but McDormand took the moment to point how few women—let alone moms—were nominated.

“If I may be so honored to have all the female nominees in every category stand with me in this room tonight,” she said on stage. “The actors—Meryl, if you do it, everybody else will, c’mon—the filmmakers, the producers, the directors, the writers, the cinematographer, the composers, the songwriters, the designers. C’mon!”

She asked Academy Award attendees to take note of the women standing and invite them for future meetings “because we all have stories to tell and projects we need financed.”

McDormand concluded her speech by calling for inclusion riders, which is basically a contract clause actors and other filmmakers can use to ensure diversity on a set or project.

If more big players in Hollywood include inclusion riders in their contracts gender diversity on movie sets will improve, and that means more moms will be on movie sets. As awesome as it is to see Oscar nominees bring their moms or thank their moms, we’d really like to see more nominees who are moms.