It’s a story as old as the modern workplace: In the 1960s, women entered the workforce massready to compete with their male counterparts for promotions, salaries and opportunities, only to discover that the system was not designed for them.
Today, women make up nearly half of the American workforce. The playing field looks different now, but the fight for equal access hasn’t gone away. It just moved into more subtle territory.
Companies make quiet calculations about who is worth “investing in,” says Corinne Low, a gender economist and associate professor of business at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
Women often face career sanctions before motherhood, as employers assume they are more likely to take a leave of absence or step back. Once they reach age 40, motherhood is “past,” this bias fades.
But not before damage has been done.
The cost of inaction is enormous: 4 out of 10 mothers give up in the first five years after giving birth. By 2025, about 400,000 mothers with young children will be part of the U.S. workforce, the steepest decline in more than 40 years.
Mothers face a training sanction that hinders their professional advancement
On average, data shows that women working full-time only earn 83% of a man’s median annual salary. Mothers face even worse odds: Their wages are often reduced by 3% for each child they have.
A new study from the University of Connecticut finds that, one to three years after giving birth, women are 17% to 22% less likely to receive on-the-job training opportunities, such as seminars, workshops and development programs, compared to a 3% to 8% decrease for men who became fathers.
The result is a hidden gap in skills and promotion that can explain almost a third of the motherhood wage penalty.
Research shows that when women have children, they are considered less committed or competent, a bias that leads employers to assume that mothers are too busy, distracted, or disinterested to participate in training opportunities.
This is called “benevolent prescriptive stereotyping” and it does mothers a disservice, says Joan C. Williams, distinguished professor emeritus of law and founding director of the Equality Action Center at UC Law San Francisco.
As Williams points out: “If you don’t get a job, you eventually get fired because you’re not making progress, or you leave because you’re upset about not getting a good job. Or you just stay stuck.”
If a mother turns down a training or advancement opportunity, it’s important to back off and not assume it’s a permanent no, Williams says. It also recommends that employers track who receives opportunities in their workplace and who does not.
Supporting mothers is not a case of charity
Another opportunity that mothers are often left out of is informal networking, such as happy hours, dinners or trips, says Kate Westlund Tovsen, founder of Society of Working Moms, a support community for and by working mothers. Even if a mom can’t attend, “it’s nice to be invited,” adds Tovsen, who suggests teams try coffee hours during the day as a caregiver-friendly option.
Mothers are forced to be proactive, as many companies lack frameworks to support leave or reintegration, Williams warns. She advises scheduling meetings with superiors before and after taking family leave to make a plan. And although being a new mother is a relatively short period in a woman’s career, companies often make “permanent decisions in terms of who they’re investing in based on this kind of temporary period where women are most stretched,” says Low.
She agrees that supporting mothers is not a case of charity, but rather a competitive advantage that allows them to retain talent in the long term.
“Caregiver strategies and investments, including benefits and return-to-work programs, generate measurable business returns,” says Jess Ringgenberg, certified career coach and CEO of Elxir, an advisory firm focusing on caregivers in the workplace.
“Companies see a three- to six-fold return on investment through higher retention, productivity, and lower absenteeism” with these programs, Ringgenberg says. Replacing a mid-level caregiver comes with replacement, training and raise expenses that can reach $200,000, Ringgenberg says, or double the employee’s annual salary.
But some companies are already working hard to help moms succeed, and it’s paying off.
Small and large companies looking for solutions
Frontier Co-op, an Iowa-based natural and organic products wholesaler with about 580 employees, created the Breaking Barriers to Employment initiative, which includes an on-site daycare, subsidized at $120 per week per child.
Its child care program allows parents to participate in training programs and development opportunities they might otherwise miss, explains Megan Schulte, vice president of human resources.
She says 100% of new parents returned to work after their parental leave.
As Frontier Co-op eases the logistical stresses of child care, Brigade Events, a women-owned and operated event strategy and management company in Dallas with 10 full-time employees, is tackling rebuilding trust and access for exited women. The company sees its project-based and mentoring work model as a form of retraining, recognizing women’s existing experience, rather than resetting them to zero. Senior employees work a hybrid schedule (three days from home, two in the office) to preserve collaboration while creating space for care.
Brigade doesn’t bat an eye at calendars blocked for a child’s doctor’s appointment or a school event. “Our whole culture is about giving each other grace,” says April Zorsky, partner and creative director.
One of their policies is for mothers returning from their 16-week maternity leave to take a “transition month” working at 50% capacity. This may mean working from home, setting your own hours, and getting back to work without penalties. “As mothers, we believe it’s essential to have flexibility,” Zorksy says.
Larger companies can also learn to be more flexible and collaborative, says Marissa Andrade, a veteran human resources executive and former chief people officer at Chipotle.
She remembers when one of her field managers decided to take a six-month maternity leave during a company-wide recovery period. Before leaving, she applied for an interim hire with Mom Project, a digital platform that helps companies hire qualified mothers, to support her leave. Everything went so smoothly that the field director was able to get back in without missing a beat.
Andrada recommends establishing resource groups between employees and companies. At Chipotle, an employee-created group, “The Hustle” (Humans United to Support the Ladies Experience), formed a maternity program to keep employees informed while they were on leave and reoriented them on compliance and training updates upon their return.
“Don’t overlook the power of your employees as consumers,” says Andrada.
When companies invite mothers to access training, support, opportunities that simply do not acclimate them to their roles, but rather make them thrive in them, everyone wins.
Mothers are not simply re-entering the workforce with confidence. Employers are also retaining their talent.