At the end of March, I had the privilege of moderating, “History in the Making: Bold Moves for Big Changes'' a Mom Project panel-discussion with several dynamic leaders from Intuit, Bright Horizons, Sony Music Group and Accenture.
The past year has forced a major shift in the narrative for working moms throughout the U.S. Much of the progress made for women (and mothers, in particular) in the workforce is at risk of being undone unless we work together to make bold moves - right now - and work to change history for good. This urgent conversation about the historic moment we are living in right now and the action we need to take to keep the path for women in the workplace clear was, and will continue to be, an important one for both current and future generations.
You can watch the entire discussion here (and I highly recommend it) but in the meantime, here are a few takeaways to provoke more thoughts on how we can continue paving the way forward to a better workplace for mothers, parents and caregivers.
There has been an historic amount of achievements unlocked for women in the past year: first female VP, first female MLB general manager, first female CEO on Wall Street, the list goes on. It was a great year for women in many ways, yet while that incredible progress was being made, the amount of challenges we have faced collectively over the past 12 months has been tremendous - with women and moms disproportionately feeling the impacts of the pandemic. Here are a few learnings and trends experts on our panel shared.
Mothers have always known this, but “the fact that child care is essential has been magnified,” Maribeth Bearfield, CHRO of Bright Horizons says. And companies are now embracing “the importance of being able to empower and support their people on their journey as working parents,” according to Coriel Taylor, Managing Director at Accenture.
“We have seen a big uptick in back-up care and companies creating learning centers.” Covid has created a situation where “child care is becoming really innovative and I never expected to say that regarding child care,” according to Bearfield.
“There isn’t a suggestion of work-life balance any more, everything is completely integrated. And this is creating a normalization of the load of parenting, this idea that everyone is carrying something everyday that affects their work life. It’s building our culture and empathy for parents,” says Tracy Stone, Director, Tech Women at Intuit.
When asked about something that other women have shared that motivates them to create a better future for the next generation, Coriel Taylor says, “Think about, and be able to clearly articulate, what you want and need in order to be successful and don’t be shy about asking for it.”
And Tiffany R. Warren, EVP, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Sony Music Group says, “A blueprint I follow is that, first and foremost we’ve all experienced trauma, good and bad. You have what the world was and what it actually is. If you can move quickly to what is and put what was in the past, you’ll be able to accelerate yourself from your past trauma.”
What gems did you take away from the conversation? Share them with us on on Twitter with the hashtags #themomproject #supportworkingmoms.
💡 The full talk is available online here.