Supporting Motherhood: Creating Equitable Workplaces for Returning Moms

Today is Mother’s Day! Let’s celebrate this mother’s day by acknowledging and being grateful to all the mothers, who magically juggle between work-life balance, and those who are full time stay-at-home moms and take care of their kids.?

Our female colleagues, friends, and family members who are working mothers often encounter obstacles that society overlooks or fails to fully comprehend. Some moms choose to return to work after maternity leave as per company policies and they work hard juggling between disbursing motherly duties and being an outstanding employee. Their hard work and work-life balance is commendable and respectable.? However, some moms choose to take a break from their careers and be full time with their babies during their baby's childhood. This decision is also equally commendable and should be respected. Unfortunately, in later cases, some of these moms face severe difficulties to return to work. Recently, I've witnessed the struggles of several female friends who took a break from their careers to focus on raising their children. What began as a brief break extended to 5-6 years to provide dedicated care to their kids. Now, as their children begin schooling, they seek to re-enter the workforce and revive their careers. However, they face immense difficulty due to the "gap" in their employment history.

It's important to highlight that these women are highly educated, talented, and possess significant prior industrial experience. Despite their qualifications, they encounter barriers to rejoining the workforce due to their career hiatus. When talking about re-entering the job, one friend even felt compelled to apologize for her "career gap," categorizing it as a "personal problem", related to maternity and motherhood responsibilities. In fact, she opted for motherhood which is her fundamental biological right. But as a society (referring to employment criteria), we made her feel guilty of executing her rights.???

My other friend who was well qualified and had several years of experience prior to taking a break to take care of her first child. When she was ready to come back to work after 5-6 years, she took several online courses, re-trained herself and upskilled to catch up with the current skills in her job sector. She received numerous rejections due apparently to her motherhood career gap. Fortunately, one of the companies she applied to invited her for an interview and gave her an opportunity to prove herself. After a rigorous selection process including written tests, skill assessments, and multiple interviews, she successfully bagged the offer letter. However, she encountered skepticism from her company’s prospective clients citing her career hiatus. In this case kudos to the employer and the hiring manager who gave a chance to a deserving and motivated mom who wanted to come back to work. But unfortunately, some people (a client in this case) do have baseless objections to her “career gap”. After a little bit Googling on this topic, I found that she is not the only one who was facing this issue, but about 43% of women with children leave their jobs and struggle to get back.?

The notion of a career hiatus as a "gap" or "personal problem" fails to acknowledge the valuable skills acquired during motherhood. Motherhood (and fatherhood too) fosters patience, task prioritization, negotiation, teamwork, mentoring, and resilience— the qualities that are directly applicable to any workplace. Unfortunately, many prospective employers fail to recognize these transferable skills, creating obstacles for women returning to work after extended maternity leave.?

Child care is not solely a personal matter but has far-reaching societal implications. Supporting the moms who choose to prioritize their children's early childhood years over their own career benefits both families and the society. By fostering a supportive environment for taking a career break to care of their babies we indirectly help in nurturing future citizens who will contribute positively to the society. According to Pew Research , 88% of mothers say that being a mom is the most important or one of the most important aspects of who they are as a person. So the decision to take a career break for motherhood should not be held against a woman.

It's disheartening that some hiring managers and clients view career gaps negatively, overlooking the potential value these experiences bring. Employers must strive for greater empathy and understanding, accommodating women who opt for career breaks to fulfill maternal duties. All they need is an opportunity to prove their mettle whenever they are ready to come back to work. Rather than penalizing them, we should view their decision to take a career break to take care of children as a commendable attribute. Nobody should feel “guilty” about it and nobody needs to be stressed out for “career gap” while executing their maternal duties. Creating a supportive environment for mothers returning to work after a career gap is not just a matter of fairness, but also of recognizing the valuable contributions they can make. Employers and society as a whole should acknowledge and appreciate the skills and resilience developed during motherhood, rather than viewing career gaps as liabilities. Then only we will be able to create truly equitable workplaces and advance gender equality beyond mere rhetoric.

Happy Mother’s Day!