The last few years have been momentous for gender equality.
We’ve had a record number of women running for national political office
and a drastic uptick in the number of women in top corporate leadership positions.
And in the far reaches of the globe, women are finally gaining equal access to education
and fair representation.
But while we’re starting to reach new heights, we still have a long road ahead.
Women comprise just 25% of total congressional seats in the United States,
and Women account for only around 30% of all staff at many major tech companies.
So what is causing this drastic inequality?
One answer may be the plight of the working mother.
While only 25% of working women plan to leave their careers to raise a family,
43% of working moms actually exit the workforce after childbirth.
The challenges of working moms may be well documented,
but the unique value they bring to their organizations is acknowledged far too little.
Here’s what happens when companies invest in working moms.
The working mom is not an anomaly.
In some places in our world, its a majority.
One of the challenges that many people associate with being a working mother or working parent
is the idea that you have another commitment outside of work and that somehow makes you
less of an employee.
It’s actually the opposite, if anything I feel there is a drive that most working
mothers have around demonstrating their commitment and demonstrating that all of this focus they
have outside of work isn’t going to get in the way of them doing their job and being
awesome at it.
One study from the Journal of Social Issues found that, in the eyes of their coworkers,
working mothers traded perceived competence with greater perceived warmth, aiding them
in social situations, but making promotions, interviews,
and performance reviews a greater challenge.
These perceptions aren’t just unfair:
they actually stand in stark contrast with performance data.
The Modern Family Index from Bright Horizons found that the vast majority of working moms
bring out the best in their teams when in a leadership role.
Working moms are also believed to be better listeners, calmer in crisis, more diplomatic,
and better team players.
This suggests that caregiving, juggling multiple schedules, and managing the daily unpredictability
of motherhood can actually give them an advantage in the workplace.
Not only are working mothers excellent employees, but the children of working moms are also
more likely to embark on high-ranking and well paying careers.
This goes to show that the working mom not only excels in the workplace, she excels in
raising goal-oriented children, too.
So how can companies better support working mothers to not only avoid post-childbirth
exits, but also reap the benefits that these super moms bring to the workplace?
This is Jamee Herbert.
She’s the founder of BridgeCare,
a finance organization that provides affordable childcare plans for working parents.
The reality of American households today looks really different than it did 50 years ago.
In 1960, only 11% of mother’s worked and today about 70% do.
So the house is changing, the household, the family, what that looks like is changing,
and so is the workplace.
We have a lot of culturally built up ideas and stereotypes about parents and people in
the workplace, and really, we need to catch up with what the studies are showing because
we’re just wrong.
Bloomberg said that if the consumer markets were gendered, they would be female, and women
make up 70-80% of consumer purchasing decisions, so to ignore them and ignore the power of
having mothers in the room at every level of companies is just not good business.
Working women shouldn’t have to choose between career excellence and motherhood.
The time for companies and colleagues to recognize and celebrate all that working moms bring
to the table is long overdue.
How does your organization promote, recognize, and uplift working moms?
Let us know in the comments below, and subscribe for more videos like this one
What I believe, and at BridgeCare we believe, is that gender equity in the home and at work
serves everybody.