Mother Knows Best — So Why Do Few Workplaces Listen?
To mark #IWD2021 iTech’s Principal Delivery Lead, Lucie Dow, reveals the key to get more working mothers in leadership roles.
For many women, March 8th is particularly special this year. Not only is it International Women’s Day, but it’s also when kids go back to school in the UK. I can hear women across the country celebrating as I type this out.
This year’s theme for International Women’s Day (‘Choose to Challenge’) resonates particularly hard with me. Lockdown has been tough for everyone, but for women balancing home-schooling, work-life, and home life, it’s been near-impossible. Judging by research from the UN, this responsibility imbalance brought on women by COVID will have a detrimental impact for decades to come. We must choose to challenge!
Under Pressure
Looking specifically at the data for women lucky enough to still have a job whilst being a parent of school-age children, stats from the UN show women, in particular, are taking on the majority of childcare duties during lockdown.
‘Everything we worked for, that has taken 25 years, could be lost in a year,’ stated UN Women Deputy Executive Director Anita Bhatia.
‘Women have been responsible for childcare since forever,’ I hear you say. Why is this problem any different during COVID times?
Friend after friend has complained to me that we have gone back years in terms of equality when it comes to housework and childcare. Many are disillusioned with the situation they now find themselves in. Ultimately, when push came to shove, they were forced to make a choice: either reduce their seniority in the workplace; work fewer hours and take home less money; or if possible, take unpaid leave.
A Juggling Act
For myself, working whilst balancing the needs of a family emotionally/practically/educationally means wearing many hats. It’s constantly throwing one hat on top of another and remembering which hat I am already wearing. The necessary skills I learn as a parent also creep into my working day, drawing on my reserves of patience and ninja-like consensus-gaining skills. Anyone who has negotiated toddlerhood and acquired the skills needed to say, ‘No more snacks!’ will understand.
These COVID times have given me a newfound appreciation of my interchangeable parenting and work skills. As a delivery lead, I often wear different hats depending on the scenario — from trying to gain squad consensus on a solution to a much wider problem across many squads. The mantra ‘It’s all fine!’ is my life.
Time for Change
These are superpowers and we should be celebrating these adaptable skills in the technology field by promoting more working mothers into leadership roles. Reports from WISE and the UN however showed women make up only 17% of the tech industry workforce, a number that has barely changed over the last decade. Of that, an even lower percentage of women make it into leadership positions. With the ongoing strains of COVID, there is a real risk more women will leave, burnt out, or exhausted from balancing work with home-schooling and childcare.
This problem perpetuates if we then lose relatable women in leadership positions. A lack of role models is repeatedly cited in the studies as a reason for women not considering careers in tech. If the industry loses the women it already has, the shockwaves this sends will cause further gender imbalance for years to come.
COVID-related stresses are already having a detrimental impact on working mothers’ careers. Data from LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index shows women were significantly less likely to be hired than men during lockdown. Two-thirds of women felt less confident in their ability to progress in their careers compared to men in 2020.
How do we make sure that we don’t lose even more female role models in the workplace? How do we ensure that women combining motherhood and work continue to provide a leadership role?
Out with the Old
We have to choose to challenge the status quo of traditional working patterns. One way that could help is true workplace flexibility. The remote aspect of lockdown has shown many workplaces that flexibility works. This continued flexibility is key as we move back into the world post-lockdown.
Flexibility and work-life balance have always been important to me and I have never been afraid to be open about it. Yes, it has been at the expense of career prospects and job offers. However, numerous studies show that diversity in staff brings a range of benefits to a workplace, so it’s a win-win for everyone involved.
Lockdown has shown us remote working is possible for many companies and this continued flexibility is key if we want to keep more working mothers in leadership roles. On the flipside, lockdown has highlighted even more that women are forced to choose. By challenging the status quo and changing working patterns, you give women more choice.
We should continue to evolve these new ways of working for everyone until true flexibility in the workplace becomes the norm. It gives more people freedom and proves women who want to work and be a mother can inspire others as a role model and prove it can be done.
Being a Role Model for All
For me, International Women’s Day is a reminder of the importance to keep striving. Working mothers’ voices need to be represented and heard. We need more of them in leadership positions as role models in all areas of the workplace. We need to retain these women and actively encourage them to go for promotion.
I am a proud mum of two primary-school-aged children, and they are proud of the fact I work. I feel fortunate to work at a company like iTech because they have offered working parents true flexibility with their approach of ‘work the way you need to’. Adjusting my days to balance my many roles is one of many initiatives that could help keep and support women in leadership roles post-COVID. By doing this we could help retain our women in leadership as role models to voice the needs and the very real challenges they face in the workplace.
