Remote work was a boon for new moms who wanted to pursue careers and have more time for their children. However, the ongoing shift back to the office has been straining recent gains, creating an unjustified ‘Motherhood Penalty.'
Mothers with children under 5 years old left the workforce at a high clip. Their labor participation rate dropped by 3% from January to June, according to The Washington Post. Unsurprisingly, mothers want to spend more time with their children.
The thought of leaving the house at 8 a.m. to arrive at work before 9 a.m. and getting home a little before 6 p.m. isn't appealing to many mothers. The thought of going back to the workforce has caused 212,000 women to leave their jobs.
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Some occupations, like nursing, require you to be on-site. However, the pandemic demonstrated that most jobs can be performed remotely.
What gives? These are some of the insights from the stricter return-to-office rules that have become the norm at companies like JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), AT&T (NYSE:T), and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).
Some Mothers Want To Stay Home
Although some mothers are reluctantly leaving the workforce because of mandates to return to the office, other mothers are happy to stay home. The #TradWife movement has picked up a lot of momentum on social media, and it's a movement that encourages women to stay at home.
The #TradWife movement has been gaining steam among Gen Z, and some of them shared their experiences. Some Gen Z women believe they wasted several years of their lives in the traditional education system and weren't happy about pursuing careers. However, not everyone in Gen Z is enthusiastic about the movement. One Gen Zer said that the movement feels like another way to "take away [her] autonomy and infantilize [her]."
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The pendulum is shifting, but too much in either direction doesn't help women. On one hand, work should be an option instead of a requirement for mothers. That's only possible if the father makes a sufficient income to cover all of the expenses, and the #TradWife movement may inspire more men to uplevel their careers. However, women who want to work shouldn't face restrictions like having to commute to the office when remote work was just fine during the pandemic. The recent return-to-office rules have put more hurdles in front of women who want to be mothers while advancing their careers.
Childcare Costs Make Staying Home A Necessity For Some Mothers
In some cases, mothers leaving the workforce makes perfect financial sense. Skyrocketing childcare costs and a tax code that taxes the couple's top dollar at progressively higher rates mean some mothers can save money by staying at home and taking care of the kids.
While some mothers may enjoy working remotely since it offers a flexible lifestyle, a return to the office may be the final straw, given the economics. Commuting to the office also requires additional transportation costs, which makes it harder for some mothers to justify going to work instead of staying home.
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Job Gaps Can Create Problems For Mothers In The Future
The "Motherhood Penalty" may not sound like a problem if you think of the perfect #TradWife scenario. However, not every woman ends up with a loving husband. Some men are abusive and controlling toward their spouses, and those tendencies can get worse if the wife has no way to support herself financially.
Furthermore, some wives are the breadwinners of their households. If they stop working, it can become far more difficult for the family to cover bills and make ends meet. While marriage requires that both partners stick together for better or for worse, divorce may feel like the only route left for some couples.
It's in these worst-case scenarios where return-to-office rules make it much harder for women to recover. A multiyear career gap a mother took to spend more time with her children will make it more difficult to secure high-paying work. She may have to climb the corporate ladder all over again, and if her finances are tight, she may not have enough time to climb the rungs she completed before having kids.
The push to return-to-office mandates forces many mothers into an uncomfortable and unnecessary corner. More mothers are choosing their kids over the office, but they are happy to work remotely. Not every company seems to understand this truth.
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