What if the "new normal" was more mothers in leadership positions?

Jenna Vassallo

Nov 29, 2023

Women make up 42% of the workforce, yet only 32% of senior leadership positions are held by women.

The representation of women gets even smaller when you look at the C-suite: As of this year, only 10% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women.

Unfortunately it doesn’t stop there. Looking at VC funding raised by female vs. male founders, the numbers are disproportionately smaller: women received roughly 2% of total funding as of 2020.

And while these numbers don’t account for how many of these women are parents, it’s anecdotally accurate to assume the subset of mothers within these numbers are much lower.

If data shows that mothers make great leaders, why are the numbers so low?

One key reason is gender bias.

Mothers are often perceived as being less committed to their careers after having children. This is known as the motherhood penalty, which puts women at a disadvantage financially and limits career advancement opportunities.

So what can we do to help normalize women and mothers in leadership positions instead of viewing parenthood as downfall?

Here are three things Parentaly CEO Allison Whalen and Tracy Young, founder of TigerEye, discussed in a recent episode of The False Tradeoff.

Episode 05

The False Tradeoff

Normalizing women & mothers in leadership

Listen to the episode

Be the change you want to see

We need more women to start and lead companies - even if women feel "it's not the right time.

Tracy founded and successfully sold her company, PlanGrid, right after the birth of her first child. She felt the itch to do it again after her second child was born during the pandemic.

While being stuck at home with her husband, who is also her co-founder, they started wondering if it was time to start again:

“The feminists in us really felt strongly that we can talk about diversity issues all day long, but the one thing that we can change is ourselves and us starting a company with a female CEO and a female founder,” Tracy said.

Sales is a great career for mothers - and is beneficial to companies‍

Women account for only 29% of sales reps and 26% of sales managers despite much research showing they outperform their male colleagues. There’s also the issue of women missing out on sales comp when they go on maternity leave.

The second startup Tracy founded, TigerEye, is a go-to-market platform. In a traditionally cut-throat, male-dominated culture, she’s found hope in the Gen Z and millennial professionals because they demand a better environment—one that is more diverse, has more perspective, and is smarter.

“I care about getting more women into sales because I think these are great jobs where they can not only contribute to our economy, but it's such a good job that they might be able to also take care of their family in a way other positions might not be able to,” Tracy said.

Universal child care would change the game‍

There’s a simple truism when you’re a parent: if you don’t have childcare figured out, you can’t work.

Because so many domestic duties end up falling on mothers and the US still lacks universal paid childcare, women remain the ones being forced to opt out of the workforce.

The problem is complicated, which means the solution must be multi-pronged. But by investing in today’s working mothers and the next generation of female leaders, Tracy thinks the world could become a better place:

“I want to see a strong economy in the US,” Tracey said.” And the only way to see a strong economy is if 50% of the population is contributing. Because when we have a strong economy, it means people are doing well.”

To celebrate all we’ve accomplished, our team shared what they’re most proud of since joining the team:

I'm most proud of how much we have done to improve the single hardest moment for women's careers (going on parental leave) ... one that is often shrouded in insecurity and fear. We've been able to help advocate for so many women (and men!) in a way that is empowering and truly life-changing.

Allison Whalen, CEO & Founder

What am I most proud of? Growth! Growing a category of support that didn't exist before Parentaly. Growing from a one-woman bootstrapped operation to a global team of 25+ employees and coaches. Growing our overall impact for working parents, with companies investing in our parental leave programming to support employees all over the world. And growing as humans: new babies, new friends, new life experiences... all while tackling new and exciting work challenges together.

Rich Burke, Head of Growth

When I reflect on what I am personally most proud of during my time here, it's working alongside a team where we constantly evolve and optimize everything that we do in order to deliver the best possible experience for the folks going through our programs. It sounds cheesy, but there are processes that my team and I used to do 100% manually that are now completely automated and systems in place that have become second nature to how we operate. Working with such thoughtful, smart, and creative people is incredible.

Sara Ophoff, Senior Program Manager

I’m most proud about doing work that makes parents feel confident and empowered about their careers during a time that can be overwhelming and challenging – not only for our clients and users who go through Parentaly’s programs, but also with our advocacy work on LinkedIn, through our podcast and other big campaigns that make a difference. It’s been pretty rewarding to build a brand people know and love because what we’re doing resonates with so many employees’ experiences in the workforce.

Jenna Vassallo, Head of Brand & Marketing

I am so proud of the way we've approached growth with such care and intentionality - with every adjustment we've made to our offerings, we've never lost sight of our goal to provide the most supportive and valuable experience for our users. I love looking back on the early stages of conversations and building that have led us to the experience we offer today. Personally, I am extremely proud of the work I've done to scale and automate our backend!

Rachel Andes, Program Associate

I am most proud of the work we do every single day to make a positive impact on working parents! Everyday I get to work with an amazing group of people…we work hard but we also have fun.

‍Sarah Gruber, Client Partner

I'm proud of scaling an employee experience that consistently delivers positive outcomes for new parents and their organizations. Our north star has always been the user, and we never sacrifice our high quality bar!

Mansi Kothari, VP of Product & Experience

I feel a sense of pride that I get to work behind the scenes supporting everyone. I’m proud to see all of the collaboration between the team and how Parentaly positively impacts employees.

Leo Manalo, Executive Assistant

I'm most proud of going through the Parentaly program myself! I'm so proud to work for and promote this company in a time where parental leave and supportive policies are at the forefront of a national conversation. But beyond this, I'm most proud to call myself a participant.

Emmy Carragher, Enterprise Partnerships

I’m really proud of the work I did to expand our coaching bench globally at Parentaly. It was so rewarding, not to mention insightful, to connect with talented coaches from around the globe. This expansion not only enriched our coaching offerings but also strengthened our commitment to making a meaningful impact on families all over the world.

‍Nicole Hagemann-Bex, Senior Coaching Operations Manager

I have tremendous pride in the knowledge that what I am doing will change the career landscape for new parents, particularly mothers. This will make it more likely that my daughter can have a career AND a family without worrying about the unintentional negative impact of taking parental leave. Nothing makes me prouder than that.

Mindy Himmel-Brown, Strategic Partnerships

In my short time at Parentaly, I'm proudest of the work we're doing with our clients' ERG groups to elevate the stories and advice of actual working parents. It's such an impactful way to spread the word about Parentaly as an essential resource for all people growing their families, and the managers who support them!

Alex Diskin, Enterprise Account Manager

I'm most proud about using LinkedIn to connect with others. I was recently able to share a helpful return to work doc with 50+ new people looking to make a difference at their company. Was pretty cool that people from Chewy, McDonald's, Honda, Cisco, AWS, Walmart and more want to integrate just a piece of what we have to offer. Also...I'm so proud of the way I feel as an employee at Parentaly. For the first time in my career my personal interests align with my professional interests and I've never felt more motivated.

Jenny Hurwitz, Strategic Partnerships

I'm really proud of being able to help the Experience team by handling the supportive functions so they can focus on the bigger picture. It feels great to know that I’m making things easier for them and contributing to the team’s success.

James Mango, Executive Assistant

Tagged

Gender equity

Podcast recap