This week, people across the land will buy pink, frilly, and/or shiny stuff to commemorate the Herculean effort their moms put into birthing and raising them. As if brunch and a gift card to the local nail spa could ever really express anyone's gratitude for not being left by the side of the road after a particularly colicky night!

I tend to frown on such forced days of parental appreciation, but -- let's face it -- if there were not a date printed on a calendar, who among us would pay the moms in our lives the homage they so richly deserve?

Still, let's not let the moment pass without taking the opportunity to consider the day after. While you're out and about this week picking out just the right card for the big momma in your life, turn your attention to what the day after Mother's Day will look like for millions of women across the country.

According to "Aiming Higher: Removing Barriers to Education, Training and Jobs for Low-Income Women," a report to be published this Wednesday by the Women's Economic Security Campaign, things aren't looking so good for moms these days. Though there is a perception that men have been the primary victims of the economic downturn's job evaporation, unemployment rates for women who head households are significantly higher than those for men who head households.

In March, the report says, the unemployment rate for women who maintain families was 11.3 percent -- the highest rate in the last 10 years. By comparison, the unemployment rate for all women was 8.6 percent and for married men it was 8.1 percent.

Sadly, women of color have been particularly decimated. In March, the unemployment rate for Caucasian women was 7.3 percent, compared with 12 percent for Hispanic and 12.4 percent for African-American women. And Illinois' figures almost exactly mirror these national numbers.

Not only that, but even women lucky enough to be working are barely making a living wage. In 2008, for example, 69 percent of all workers 25 and older with earnings at or below the minimum wage were women, and those numbers haven't changed much.

What this all boils down to, though, goes far beyond mothers to you and me and everyone else in town. You see, one of the most maddening myths I come across when talking about this issue with people who are generally comfortable in life -- or admittedly affluent -- is that they believe these awful statistics have nothing to do with them. Wrong!

"When women aren't able to provide healthy food, quality education or health care for their children, it has a direct and generational impact on an entire community," said Shelley A. Davis, a vice president at the Chicago Foundation for Women -- one of the member organizations of the Women's Economic Security Campaign. "But just one example of the wide ripple effect is this: One type of low-wage earner is the child-care provider. If a day care worker is going to work sick because she can't afford to take time off, who does that impact? Your children."

The report recommends building a wide safety net for low-income women, one based on education, access to job training and the creation of stable jobs with benefits conducive to caring for families -- priorities the Women's Economic Security Campaign says are "vital to a U.S. economy seeking to regain its global competitive edge."

So stimulate the economy this week by getting mom something nice, and be sure to tell her you love her.

And while you're at it, take a moment to hope that Mother's Day 2011 will bring a brighter economic picture for all the wonderful moms and grandmas in all our lives.