Trends in Work Hours

When Moms First was starting out, a lot of people asked me: Why moms? Why not all parents? This is why: https://lnkd.in/eh3gqwPm ------ "This month, the U.S. Census Bureau published a bombshell finding: The gender wage gap just got wider for the first time in two decades ‒ with women now earning just 83 cents to a man’s dollar. That’s maddening. But, for moms at least, it’s hardly surprising. It’s next to impossible to balance work and family in this country ‒ and as this new data shows, women are taking the hit. As the cost of child care continues to soar, women will just keep falling further behind. On paper, there’s no reason to believe that women should be earning less than men. Girls are more likely to graduate from high school and more likely to hold a bachelor’s degree. More women than men go to law school and medical school, and women’s enrollment in MBA programs has reached record highs. In fact, women do earn nearly as much as men ‒ at least early in their careers. On average, women in their late 20s and early 30s are much closer to parity, taking home at least 90 cents on the dollar compared with the guys sitting next to them at graduation or new hire orientation. Then, when women hit their mid-30s, something changes. The pay gap gets wider. It’s no coincidence that that’s precisely when women are most likely to be raising kids. All of a sudden, women are forced to make very hard choices to manage the demands of work and family. As the founder of Moms First, I’ve heard versions of this story from more women than I can count. Maybe mom drops down to part-time so she can make it to school pickup. Or maybe she switches to a new job that pays less but offers more flexible hours. Or maybe she drops out of the workforce entirely, because the cost of day care would have outpaced her salary anyway. Make no mistake, we are talking about moms here. When women are paid less than men anyway (and, in the case of Black and Hispanic women, way less), deprioritizing their careers can feel like the only logical decision, even if it isn’t what they wanted. This creates a vicious cycle, where pay inequity begets more pay inequity ‒ and women are systematically excluded from economic opportunities. At the same time, while women experience a motherhood penalty, men experience a fatherhood premium ‒ working more hours and reaping bigger rewards than those without kids. As Nobel laureate Claudia Goldin put it, when describing her pioneering research on the pay gap, 'Women often step back, and the men in their lives step forward.' Because here’s the thing: The 'choice' to step back from the workforce isn’t much of a choice at all. If grandma isn’t around to pitch in and child care costs more than rent, what other option do you have?"

A woman working 8 hours a day in corporate is paid in thousands on average, while a woman working almost 8 hours at home gets paid nothing. 👉Is managing a house not working?  👉Does work done at home require no skills?  👉Is raising children and managing the elderly not a full-time job? It definitely is. But that's considered a mandatory thing to do and not a work that women do at home. As per reports, on average, women in India spend 7.2 hours a day cooking, cleaning, and caring for their household members (children, elderly, sick or disabled). I totally understand that women are the wheels for tomorrow's existence, and apart from the economic aspect, women are the torchbearers of social growth. However, the disproportionate responsibility of unpaid care work on women results in gender inequality and time poverty, which impacts their ability to progress. Now, by being vocal about shared responsibilities at home and equal participation of women in economic, social, and political sectors, we are advancing towards a more equal society. But to achieve this in the truest form, we need to give due respect for the unpaid care work that women do at large. The World Economic Forum report released in 2023 estimates that at the current rate of change, the gender gap in economic participation and opportunity will take 131 years to close. That's a massive gap, and we need to speed up. 3 changes I believe need to be brought out are: 1️⃣ Normalize men taking on an equal share of household and childcare duties. We can start teaching these values right from our home to our boys. 2️⃣ About 82% of the total number of working women in India are employed in the informal sector. Measures like minimum wage coverage, maternity leave, health insurance, and old age pension schemes should be worked on. 3️⃣ Speak up when we see or hear gender stereotypes that reinforce women's role as primary caregivers and men as breadwinners. Whether it's cooking, cleaning, or childcare - every work is "real work". While the gender gap may seem daunting, change starts with each of us speaking up in our daily lives and taking action to get 1% closer to our goal of gender equality. What are some ways you think we can increase the value of unpaid care work? #womenempowerment #unpaidwork #genderequality

You don’t get promotions, bonuses, or recognition for this job. But without it, nothing works. That’s me with my girls, many years ago on a trip back to India. They’re young adults now and about to enter the workforce. For nearly a decade, I raised them as a single dad—while leading in senior leadership and C-suite roles. Grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, school matters, medical appointments, extra-curricular activities, friends, pick-up/drop-off runs… the list was endless. It wasn’t easy. I was juggling all day—work, kids, home—trying not to drop anything. And I was very fortunate to have had incredibly supportive leaders and team members who understood the challenge. But let me be clear—I’m not sharing this for your sympathy or support. I’m sharing this because the experience of raising my girls gave me a unique and often overlooked perspective on the hidden cost women pay when balancing professional careers and caregiving. For a moment, replace me with any other woman in your family—your partner, daughter, maybe even your mom—and you start seeing the bigger picture. This isn’t about saying men don’t contribute—many do. But the numbers tell a different story. 👇 🔹 Workforce gap – Women’s participation: 62.5% (men: 71.3%). 🔹 55% pay cut – Women’s earnings drop post-childbirth. Men’s? Unaffected. 🔹 Childcare penalty – High costs make full-time work unaffordable for many women. 🔹 Retirement gap – Women retire with 23% less Super, increasing financial insecurity. 🔹 Unpaid labour = another job – Women do 30+ hours/week of unpaid care (men: 22 hours). (Source: Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, 2023 Report to the Australian Government). These issues are major contributors to the Gender Pay Gap. As a C-Suite leader, you have the power to break these barriers—starting now. Here are two steps you can take immediately: ✔️ Provide flexibility – Support caregiving without compromising career growth. ✔️ Encourage equal parental leave – Normalise men taking an equal caregiving role. 📩 If this resonates, let’s talk. I’d love to hear your thoughts—message me for a copy of my guide. "Closing the Gender Pay Gap & Accelerating Women into Leadership Positions." #Leadership #DiversityAndInclusion #GenderEquity #FutureOfWork --- For senior leaders navigating complex challenges, the journey to impactful leadership can feel daunting at times—but it doesn’t have to be walked alone. Anoop, with 30+ years of experience across three continents, a former Board member and CPO of a Fortune 10 company in Australia, and winner of the 2022 HR Leader of the Year award, advises senior leaders on making profound changes.

Unpaid household work | Men:88 mins - Women:289 mins Unpaid caregiving | Men:75 mins - Women:137 mins Paid employment | Men:473 mins - Women:341 mins Women work as much as men, if not more, They’re just not getting paid/appreciated for even half of it. Even in urban homes, even with domestic help, the mental load, the - “Did the milk come?” - “Is the uniform ironed?” - “Did the kid eat lunch?” still mostly falls on women. And yes, I’ve been guilty of ignoring it too. Meanwhile, Ashima was running the show at home with her Clinic. So here’s what I’m learning (and unlearning): 1) Invisible work is still work If it takes energy, time, and sacrifice, it counts. 2) Help without being asked If you need instructions to help, you’re not really helping. 3) Share the load, not just praise “Thanks for doing this” is a nice gesture. “Let me take this today” is better. 4) Don’t glorify imbalance We don’t need to celebrate women for doing it all. We need to change the system that forces them to and maybe help them. This post isn’t just about numbers. It’s about acknowledging the weight women carry quietly, daily, without a job title or salary attached. If you're wondering how to fix this: - Sit down with your partner. Ask what you don’t see. - Divide tasks like you divide budgets at work. - Model this behaviour for your kids. Especially your sons. Because respect isn’t just about words. It’s about participation. And it starts at home. #WorkLifeBalance #Leadership #PersonalDevelopment #LifeAtWork

India’s Economy Has a Missing Engine: Women Especially women from lower-income backgrounds. A McKinsey study estimated that India could add $770 billion to GDP by 2025 by simply advancing gender parity in work. But instead, female labor force participation fell from 32% (2005) to ~20% (2020). https://lnkd.in/dvys4E6f Despite progress in some areas, female labor force participation in India is among the lowest in the world, even lower than some Sub-Saharan African countries. Why Are So Many Poor Women Underemployed or Not Properly Utilized? 1. Social and Cultural Barriers • Deep-rooted patriarchy restricts women’s mobility, especially in rural or conservative areas. • Girls are often seen as temporary earners, their “real role” is expected to be at home. 2. Safety and Mobility • Public transport is unsafe or unavailable, making it harder for women to travel to work. • Fear of harassment, especially in cities or during night shifts, keeps families from letting women work. 3. Unpaid Labor at Home • Women spend hours daily doing unpaid work: cooking, cleaning, child care, elder care. • This invisible labor is neither recognized nor redistributed. • Poor women, in particular, bear the double burden of poverty and gendered expectation. 4. Lack of Suitable Jobs - There is no structured pathway from informal to formal employment. 5. Policy & Structural Failure • Skill development programs often don’t reach women or are too generic and disconnected from market realities. • No large-scale, nationwide push for rural women entrepreneurship, decentralized production, or employment guarantees for women. • Schemes exist, but access is broken due to middlemen, corruption, or lack of information. Poor women: • Walk miles for water • Raise children with limited resources • Cook without clean fuel • Manage micro-budgets like CFOs of households Yet the system never sees them as ‘employable’ or ‘productive’. What Can Change This? 1. Localized employment: Bring dignified work to villages (e.g., food processing, crafts, decentralised manufacturing). 2. Safe, affordable transport: So women can commute without fear. 3. Women-led cooperatives and micro-enterprises: Let women own their work, not just participate. 4. Recognition of unpaid work: Design policies around time poverty, not just joblessness. 5. Mindset shift: From “allowing” women to work to realizing they hold the key to national growth. We talk of “demographic dividend” but leave half the population on the sidelines. A country that sidelines its women isn’t just unjust, it is chronically underperforming.

At exactly 5 p.m., a former colleague stationed himself near the exit, shouting "goodbye" to colleagues leaving. He wanted to make sure our boss knew who stayed beyond regular hours and who left promptly. This strategy was deliberate; employees, especially women, felt pressured to avoid leaving exactly at or just before 5 due to fear. Many women in the office began stashing their purses and coats in the restroom to avoid appearing as though they were leaving but rather taking a brief bathroom break. The lengths we went to hide the fact that we had lives and obligations outside of work were ridiculous. Now, despite having personal laptops and phones that blur the boundaries between work and personal life, the pressure to "stay late" continues. And so, people find it challenging to juggle responsibilities such as school pick-ups, evening activities, or simply making dinner alongside their #workload. This should not be.  A #flexible workday, anchored by core hours (such as 10 am to 4 pm), allows people to connect with colleagues while acknowledging that they may not be available outside these core hours. This empowers employees to manage their workload according to their personal schedule, fostering a healthy #worklifebalance without needing to hide their life from work. 

The traditional office excluded millions. Here's how the world has evolved: The 9-5 office model was designed by men, for men, in the 1950s when one person went to work and the other stayed at home. In 2025, it's time we admit: this system was never built for most of us. Flexible work isn't just a perk. For many, it's the difference between thriving and surviving - here are some data backed examples: 👶 For the new parent who shouldn't have to choose between career advancement and being present for bedtime stories (women still spend 60% more time on childcare than men - ONS Time Use Survey) ♿️ For the disabled worker navigating a world where 1 in 4 report difficulties getting reasonable adjustments at work (Equality and Human Rights Commission) 🩸 For anyone who's ever had to pretend they weren't in physical pain from menstrual cramps while sitting in the office (57% of women say period pain has affected their ability to work - YouGov survey) 🏳️🌈 For LGBTQ+ individuals navigating workplaces where more than a third have hidden their identity for fear of discrimination (Stonewall's LGBT in Britain - Work Report) 🧓 For the caregiver balancing professional responsibilities with supporting aging parents (1 in 7 UK workers now juggle work with caring - Carers UK) What would genuine flexibility mean for YOUR life? Share below 👇 #FlexibleFuture #InclusiveWorkplaces #DEI

Today, August 26, is Women's Equality Day. It marks the anniversary of the certification of the 19th Amendment, which granted some women the right to vote. However, there are many areas in which women are still working toward equality, namely in pay equity, reproductive rights and in our topic today - the workloads they carry at work. Research by Linda Babcock, published by Harvard, revealed that women get 44% more requests at work to volunteer for unpaid, “non-promotable” tasks. Non-promotable tasks are those that benefit the organization but likely don’t contribute to someone’s performance evaluation and career advancement. These tasks include traditional office “housework,” such as coordinating parties and office events, as well as filling in for a colleague, or serving on a low-level committees. Men will tend to be given and say yes to strategic projects with higher level networking or visibility. In my coaching practice, this is the single largest cause of burnout, exhaustion and anxiety in my clients. They are simply taking on too much work that is not contributing to their advancement and holding on to projects that no longer serve them. Here's the thing: Giving women the brunt of the workload hurts men, too! It hurts their profits as leaders of organizations due to employee turnover and burnout. It hurts their potential as leaders because they miss out on the empathy and EQ building skills that come from coordinating tasks that often touch the well-being and hearts of their teams. To keep women in critical leadership pipelines, generate equality and advance them to the rooms where decisions are made, it’s time to equalize the burden of unpaid work. It's hard to build sustainable confidence and results if you’re consistently overworked and overwhelmed. How can you change your delegation and be more equitable in delegating the office tasks that must get done? #womensequalityday

Why Are Women Still Penalised for Being Caregivers? “For more than a decade, we’ve been told that flexible work would fix the gender gap in tech. That if women were simply given the option to work remotely, log in after school drop-off, or reduce their hours temporarily, we’d finally see a level playing field. And yet, here we are in 2025, and the story hasn’t changed. Women and especially mothers are still being quietly sidelined. The latest Women in Digital: Driving Change in Tech report is a wake-up call. While 77% of tech employers offer flexible work arrangements, nearly half of women in the sector still believe having children hinders their careers. Even more troubling, a growing number of women say school hours are hurting their professional progress which is up to 34% this year, compared to 29% last year. These aren’t just statistics. They’re signals. And they reflect a deeper truth: flexibility is only as good as the culture that surrounds it. As the founder of Women Love Tech, I’ve spoken with countless women in STEM careers. Many of them stepped into motherhood hopeful and believing they could balance both roles, especially in an era that celebrates hybrid work. But far too often, the reality is different. Promotions are offered to those who stay late on Zoom. Big projects are given to employees who are ‘always available.’ And women, again particularly mothers, are left watching opportunities slip away. It’s not flexibility that’s failing us. It’s the outdated notion that visibility equals value. As Holly Hunt (CEO of Women in Digital) said ‘Flexibility is now widely embraced, and that’s a win for everyone in tech. However, there is a lingering culture of presenteeism, where visibility and after-hours engagement are still seen as prerequisites for advancement, which disproportionately disadvantages caregivers.’” Read more 👉 https://lnkd.in/g-4fziS2 ✍️ Article by Robyn Foyster #WomenInSTEM #GirlsInSTEM #STEMGems #GiveGirlsRoleModels

You know it. I know it. Return to office isn't neutral. It disproportionately impacts women, especially mothers and caregivers. I was honored to share my thoughts with Taylor Telford for her latest The Washington Post piece exploring how aggressive RTO policies are pushing women's progress backwards. (Link in comments) As I shared in this piece, it is not a "choice" when the options are so limited. Women are once again finding themselves pushed out of the paid workforce. Some key takeaways from the article: 👉 After decades of gradual progress, the gender wage gap is widening again. In 2024, women earned just 80.9 cents for every dollar earned by men, dropping from 84 cents in 2022. 👉 For many women, especially those with caregiving responsibilities, rigid office policies are forcing "choices": accept demotions, take pay cuts, or leave entirely. 👉 Turnover among women at companies with strict in-office mandates is nearly THREE TIMES that of men. 👉 The lack of affordable, accessible childcare continues to widen the pay gap. 👉 Policies like RTO and limiting flexibility are stagnating women who feel forced to step off the ladder towards career growth to manage caregiving. This is exactly why at WRK/360, our mission is to help workplaces ACTUALLY be family and caregiving friendly. Not just in rhetoric, but in policy, culture, and practice. The dynamics the article highlights aren’t hypothetical; they are the exact challenges we work with our clients on daily. ✔️ We help companies design policies (e.g., hybrid, flexible schedules, core hours) that allow for collaboration without penalizing caregivers ✔️We coach leadership on equitable performance criteria so that remote or hybrid contributors are not implicitly devalued ✔️We partner with organizations to embed family-supportive programs that retain talent. HR and leadership teams: 👉 Still considering an RTO mandate? Think about what this really means for women and caregivers. 👉 Already have one in place? Run an audit on your turnover. How has this policy impacted men vs. women? Caregivers vs. non-caregivers? What talent are you losing? Together, we can protect the progress made over decades and stop pushing women and caregivers out of the paid workforce.