Where are the part-time jobs for women?

February 3, 2020 was the last day that I worked. I decided to leave my senior management position after being completely burned out from 6 grueling years of start-up life. I had five (glorious) weeks to decompress before we went into shelter-in-place for Covid-19.  The first week of SIP I began supporting my daughter’s remote learning in kindergarten and managing my Grandmother’s treatment for breast cancer. The second week my partner’s firm laid off and furloughed six-thousand employees and the rest took a 20% pay deduction (he was in the latter bucket). Our lives were shadows of what they once were. 

Remote school continued the next year in pod format, with me sharing the support duties with another mother. The return to in-person school was unknown, and although I initially intended to take 3 months off of work, that timeline kept getting pushed back. The thought of having to go back to work under these circumstances was overwhelming. My previous company was in the live events space; nothing existed for me to go back to. Not only had my priorities changed, but my career would need reimagining as well. 

According to the latest U.S. labor statistics, I am one of 1.7 million women that left the workforce and have not re-entered (npr.org). The federal government is providing child tax credits and trying to pass legislation to fund childcare in an effort to support women and families. There’s still more to do. I believe we need to look at designing more part-time roles throughout organizations and at all levels. A woman shouldn’t have to accept a lower position just because she is seeking part-time hours, nor should she be valued any less. I’d like to explore how we can challenge the culture of the 40 hr work week and decrease the barriers to re-entry for women that have left the workforce.