Most Jobs Have Failed Working Moms In These 4 Hard-To-Overcome Ways, According To A Survey
Srdjan Randjelovic | Shutterstock According to a survey, most jobs have failed working moms when it comes to workplace flexibility. Though flexibility remains one of the most sought-after traits a job can have, LiveCareer’s Fight for Flexibility Report found that it is in increasingly short supply.
“Pandemic-era flexibility is becoming increasingly fragile,” they noted. While everyone is feeling these changes, it seems like they are disproportionately affecting working mothers. “Despite years of corporate messaging around inclusion and work-life balance, flexibility remains inconsistently applied, with working mothers bearing the consequences,” the report stated.
Working moms are one of the groups of people who need flexibility in the workplace the most, but instead, it seems more like they’re being punished for their decision to have both a family and a career.
Survey finds most jobs have failed working moms in these 4 hard-to-overcome ways:
1. They face criticism when they have to take time off because of their kids
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As much as our society has progressed and rejected stereotypical gender norms, moms are still often the default parent who takes care of their children the most. This means that when a kid gets sick, it’s usually the mom that the school, daycare, or babysitter calls to come deal with the problem. LiveCareer’s survey found that 93% of working moms had been given a hard time for having to take a day off or even leave work early to care for their kids.
Clinical psychologist Amber Thornton, PsyD, described what she termed “default parent syndrome” as “a systemic and collective experience in which there is a bias toward women and mothers in providing primary care for parenting and home-related tasks.”
It’s pretty rare that someone calls a child’s father when they’re sick or injured. Our culture expects moms to be responsible for this, yet there is no flexibility for them at work when they must tend to these duties. This is just one example of jobs failing working moms.
2. They can’t easily leave work at the same time every day to take care of their kids
Part of being the default parent means you’re the one who picks the kids up from school, daycare, or other activities. For this reason, working moms often like to have a consistent time when their work day ends — an example LiveCareer offered was “a hard stop at 5 p.m. for school pickup.” However, a whopping 96% of working moms said they have “faced pushback” for trying to implement this.
Jessica Grose, the author of “Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood,” explained, “The reality of their children’s lives rarely lined up with expectations they had from work. Something as simple as the fact that the school day does not match up with a typical work day is an immediate conflict that you have to solve as an individual.”
For all of the talk we hear about work-life balance, a person’s work actually lining up with and fitting neatly into their life doesn’t happen often. When jobs hold back working moms from doing something as simple as leaving when they need to so they can care for their kids, especially when they’re staying on top of their work, it’s not sending a good message.
3. They struggle to work and pay for childcare
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The major issue of paying for childcare is nothing new. Many moms have had to stop working so they can take care of their kids themselves because childcare is so expensive, and even with a full-time job, they’re not breaking even. LiveCareer said that 36% of working moms are in this situation, while another 55% have cut back their hours or even changed jobs so that they could keep up the delicate balance.
Based on data from 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor estimated that families who had one child in full-day care spent 8.9% to 16.0% of their median income on it, which came out to about $6,552 to $15,600 a year. Those numbers are completely unreasonable, but they explain why so many working moms are adjusting their careers to make childcare possible. This shows it is not just jobs that are failing working moms, but society as a whole.
4. They think taking maternity leave held them back professionally
Perhaps the most damaging of the survey’s findings was that 86% of respondents thought that “taking maternity leave set back their advancement or cost them promotions” at work. Somewhat shockingly, there is technically no law that mandates employers provide maternity leave in the U.S. According to the Department of Labor, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) gives workers access to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, which can be used for the birth of a child. Beyond that, it all depends on state laws.
Obviously, taking maternity leave should not have any bearing on a woman’s career trajectory. After all, you can’t really do your job while you’re having contractions. However, Harvard Business Review noted, “Evidence from a variety of countries reveals that the longer new mothers are away from paid work, the less likely they are to be promoted, move into management, or receive a pay raise once their leave is over. They are also at greater risk of being fired or demoted.”
Working moms are actually facing discrimination for taking maternity leave, even though they have a right to. Taking the time they’re entitled to to prepare for labor, deliver their baby, and recover from the whole ordeal is holding them back. This is one of the biggest ways that jobs have failed working moms.
Working moms are doing their best to be present in their kids’ lives while also maintaining a career. There’s no reason women shouldn’t be able to do both, but workplaces still make it difficult to do so. Women are essentially being punished for daring to choose both a family and a career, and it’s wildly unfair.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
