Will 2020 Be The Year Companies Tackle #MomsToo?

As 2019 comes to a close, I’m hopeful.

State after state is passing legislation for paid family & medical leave policies that guarantee families of every income paid time off. In Washington, a new bill drafted from scratch and nearly a decade in the making will provide 12 weeks of paid leave to its residents, and low-wage earners will receive 90% of their weekly income.

Wall Street banks, traditionally aligned with patriarchal roles defined by male Breadwinners and female caretakers are drafting policies that embrace modern families. Eliminating the need to distinguish primary and secondary caregivers and making policy inclusive of all those who need and want to take time off, no matter their gender.

At a time when working mothers are amplifying their voices and demanding better policies, working dads are joining the chorus and fighting to secure paid family leave for all. Alexis Ohanian, along with Dove Men Care, took their cohort of dad advocates to Capitol Hill for Dad’s Day of Action, where they demanded that lawmakers draft paid parental leave for all. This issue, one that would improve the lives of all Americans, is not only urgent but bipartisan. We are finding both Republicans and Democrats coming to the table to discuss the future of the paid family and medical leave in this country.

We’ve come a long way since the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. And while we’re making progress daily, there is still so much left to do. 25% of mothers (mostly low-wage earners) are back to work in ten days after giving birth. We’re witnessing a maternal health crisis where African-American women are three to four times more likely to die on delivery tables and during the postpartum period due to systemic sexism and racism. And let’s not forget that only 14% of Americans have access to any paid leave at all through their employer. Childcare costs continue to rise at staggering rates. On the whole, caregiving is undervalued in our culture and often times gendered and stigmatized.

Working mothers, especially, feel the intense and overwhelming pressure to be both the perfect employee and parent. Advances in technology have increased the flexibility of workflow, yet we continue to see employees penalized for utilizing family-friendly policies. Mostly, we see working parents expected to be available around the clock and weekends when they should otherwise be spending time with family.

For progress to continue into 2020 and beyond, we must shift the narrative and elevate conversations that will bring broader awareness to the challenges facing working parents. To that end, working mothers are initiating dialogues that will effect lasting change in America.

In October, I was invited to speak at Mother: The Summit where Blessing Adesiyan, Founder of Mother Honestly and creator of the summit, gathered over 400 working mothers in Detroit to inspire, connect, educate, and solve the issues facing this ever-growing legion of self-advocates.

As we look forward to 2020, the future of work and parenting has never been brighter. We’ve seen companies like Microsoft applaud the 4-day work week, and Fortune 500 companies offering fully-paid parental leave to working parents. We hope to see more of this in the coming decade to ease the burden of parenting in America.

From career development to advocating for flexible work and paid parental leave, working mothers across the country joined in solidarity. They walked away with tangible connections, tools, and resources to better support their career and family strategies and a growing enthusiasm to continue these important conversations.

As a panelist on the integration of work and parenting at the Summit, I was particularly drawn to this message:

At Motherly, we are declaring 2020 The Year of the Mother, calling on lawmakers and employers to hear our voice, the voice of today’s mother, because we deserve better. Today’s mothers are better educated than any generation before, working more than ever before, and our governmental policies, corporate governance, and culture have not adjusted to provide the support needed to ensure mamas and families thrive.

Mother Honestly is committed to continuing the push to better support working families and will be moving next year’s summit to New York City at the Brooklyn Expo Center on October 1st and 2nd, 2020.

At WRK/360, we echo this call and while we know there is no silver bullet, and that change requires continuous effort to reform policies, insure corporate governance, and ultimately demands a shift in culture, companies can (and must) take action by revisiting and thoroughly examining their ethos and practices:

1. Update Paid Family Leave Policies – Is your paid leave benefit accessible for and inclusive of all families? Does your company cover all families (LGBTQIA, adoption, surrogacy, etc.) and eliminate traditional gender assumptions? Is it adequate for employees to recover, bond and care for their newborns?

For small businesses and startups, we get it. Without governmental policies in place to service your employees, competing with Fortune 100 companies is nearly impossible. So we suggest thinking outside the box. Follow the lead of Mother: The Summit speaker, Daina Trout, CEO of Health-Ade Kombucha, who recommends creating a custom approach for each employee. Trout sits down with each person on her team to understand their needs and explore how best the company can support them through a variety of options. For example, a parent might not want to leave work for three full months on “leave”— they might instead want the capability to flex in and flex out for six months and some help to cover the costs of sleep training. The goal for Trout is to provide options and not to make assumptions over what parents may or may not need.

2. Create Cultures that are Receptive to the Needs of Working Families – Returning from parental leave is when the real juggle begins for most parents. More and more working families live in dual-income households and need additional support and flexibility. Start the conversation! Ask your employee what the company can do to help during this transition. Brief managers on how they can better support working families. Companies like McKinsey are initiating these conversations about managing dual careers and families during retreats for newly appointed partners. At WRK/360, we provide a digital platform combined with IRL coaching support to empower all working parents and their managers to improve the experience planning for leave through returning to work.

3. Find Ways to Establish Flexible Work Scenarios – This doesn’t mean everyone has to go fully remote, although that culture is rising, and for a good reason — it works! Koziol shared that her experience commuting two hours a day while pregnant and newly postpartum lead to the decision to create a fully remote workforce at Motherly. She and co-founder, Liz Tenety have only been co-located for a total of four months highlighting that remote work works.

4. It Takes a Village (read: Company) to Raise a Child – Many startups and tech giants like SnapChat and Facebook offer subsidies or benefits to help parents offset the cost of childcare. Patagonia is an example of a company that goes even further—providing free, on-site childcare to all of its employees. Access to back-up childcare is a critical need for every family, from school breaks to sick kids, so having an alternative to employees’ missing workdays is huge and necessary for your company’s bottom line.

Will 2020 be the year we bring working parents and their issues into sharper focus? Will it be the beginning of a future that prioritizes a new normal and champions dual-career families and working mothers? I hope so. We are ready to receive the long-overdue support we need from our companies, government, and culture so that we can thrive as both professionals and parents.

We recognize that no single company or policy will shift the status quo, but by supporting mothers at work and supporting fathers to be the caregivers, they want to be we aim to redistribute the uneven ratio of unpaid work, lessen the mental load of motherhood, and help equalize pay.

At a minimum, this must be our goal; without such, we will fail not only our children but for generations of those to come. Now is the time. 2020 must be The Year of the Mother.