Washington Wants Women to Have More Babies. Here’s How Industry Can Help.
Published in the Hartford Courant on June 2, 2025
The White House’s recent proposal to increase American birth rates by paying baby bonuses of $5,000, offering classes on menstrual cycles, and bestowing a “National Medal of Motherhood” on mothers of six or more children completely (and absurdly) misses the mark. Five thousand dollars a child is a pittance compared to the estimated $300,000 it costs to raise one. Most women understand menstruation, given that it’s a monthly event. And show me one woman who’d take on the physical and financial costs of a seventh baby for a medal. Come on!
If asked, most women would say that, aside from the daunting economics and physical toll of raising children, a major reason they choose to have fewer of them is career disruption. Addressing the workplace biases and inflexibility that make working motherhood so difficult is a much more effective (and respectful) baby boom stimulus.
Women are 51 percent of the U.S. population and play a critical role in the professional workforce. Studies show that organizations with more of them deliver better financial performance, employee satisfaction/retention, and shareholder returns. But women also give birth to 100 percent of our future—and that reality complicates things.
Data from McKinsey/LeanIn.Org and LinkedIn/Censuswide reveal that about 50 percent of U.S. women-professionals take an extended career break for child-rearing. Of those who remain in the workforce, most take the “Mommy Track,” decelerating their careers by turning down promotions or reducing hours or workload temporarily. Pew Research found that 54 percent of women reduced their hours and 23 percent declined promotions, during this life-phase.
As such, the vast majority of professional women in our workforce have interrupted careers; sadly, the resultant gaps on their resumés make resuming work and maintaining traction exceedingly difficult, sometimes impossible. Women like Constance, an Ivy League-educated Tier-1 attorney; Maria, a quad-lingual fintech project manager; and Emma, an Oxford-educated brand marketer were stars in their workplaces yet struggled to return to and advance in their careers after pausing them for children.
According to economist Claudia Goldin, women who take just one year off for childcare earn 39 percent less than those who don’t, while fatherhood increases men’s earnings by 11 percent. Despite graduating college at higher rates than men, women fall behind at the first promotion. They are 15 percent less likely to advance at every level and lead just 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies. They earn 82 cents on men’s dollar. The stigma of motherhood is so pervasive that up to 25 percent of female interviewees have been asked if they have (or plan to have) children.
A thriving workplace depends on utilizing all its talent; a thriving species depends on birthing future generations, and women are essential to both. They should be supported, not punished, when they temporarily pause their careers for motherhood.
Here are six ways you can ensure that women succeed along the continuum of their crooked career paths in and for your organization:
Redefine “work.” Women who pause careers for caregiving are still working—just differently. They lead community organizations, fundraise, advocate, and consult on nonprofit boards. This work is valuable; we all benefit from it. It should count on a job application.
Reframe work-life benefits. Flexible work and family leave programs improve productivity and performance for all. Yet men scarcely use them (often for fear of ostracism) while women do—resulting in their careers being disrupted while men maintain traction to advance faster and further. When all employees feel welcome to participate in work-life programs, everyone benefits, including the bottom line.
Rethink “ambition.” Ambition is a vague yet common criterion for advancement that disadvantages women. Harvard Business Review notes that when women adjust careers for work-life balance, they are seen as less ambitious and excluded from key conversations and projects. Ensure this bias isn’t impacting your female colleagues.
Reconsider promotion requirements. Intermediate steps like cross-country or global relocations are often required for advancement into senior roles but offer little developmental value. They are “loyalty-proving” steps that disproportionately disadvantage women: men are 3.7 times more likely to relocate their families.
Review compensation distribution. If there’s a gender divide, fix it. Women are less likely to negotiate for better/higher pay out of the gate, and more likely to be paid less throughout their careers due to their having (or likelihood to have) children.
Recast caregiving career pauses as valuable. “Normalize” them as an expected and broadly beneficial part of working motherhood.
Women who want larger families will feel freer to build them when they know their career and income prospects won’t be permanently derailed by them.
Washington can keep their medals and cash bonuses. Industry’s got to lead the way on this.
Susan Rietano Davey is a longtime career and workplace expert whose global learning and consulting company, Prepare to Launch, LLC is based in Avon, Ct. This article includes material from a book she is writing about professional women, the career pauses they commonly take, and how those pauses enhance their skills and increase their workplace value.