Shocker: More paid leave is good for moms’ well-being

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The Female Quotient Team

WHAT’S ON DECK

• Tell Me More: How Varying Degrees of Maternity Leave Affect the Lifelong Health of Women in the Workplace

• Troublemaker Spotlight: Neha Ruch, Founder of Mother Untitled

• Dear FQ: How Can I Speak Up Without Being Shouty?

• Poll the Pack: A New Generation of Leaders and the Culture of Caring

TELL ME MORE

File under: We could have told you that 📁 Paid leave directly impacts mothers’ physical and mental health

Paid maternity leave is standard across all developed countries in the world, guaranteed in 178 countries, with the exception of the United States. We know this isn’t news. We’re just restating the facts. 

In case you were wondering where things stand in the US, 40% of women don’t qualify for the 12 weeks of protected family leave guaranteed by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). And keep in mind that leave is unpaid.

Maternity leave is not a luxury, it’s a human right—essential for mothers to heal from the profound physical demands of childbirth, and for babies to have the care they need to thrive in their earliest, most critical days.

But what exactly qualifies as maternity leave? How long should it be? What’s covered? And most of all, how are moms supported after that leave ends?

A study from Hong Kong revealed the powerful connection between the time of a new mother’s maternity leave and their well-being. By extending maternity leave in Hong Kong from 10 weeks to 14 weeks, a research team found that postpartum depression cases dropped by 22%, making a clear point for a new standard of care.

Four weeks. Just one month extra. Blink and you’ll miss it—yet it showed significant change in new moms’ mental health. It just goes to show that even small adjustments in policies can set everyone up for success in big ways—moms, babies, and entire families.

As a result of the study, Hong Kong enacted a new ordinance that extended statutory paid maternity leave to 14 weeks, which also aligns with the recommended minimum from the International Labour Organization (ILO). 

Many countries far exceed this minimum:

• Norway: 343 days at 100% pay 

• Bulgaria: 410 days at 90% pay 

• United Kingdom: 273 days at 90% pay 

• Sweden: 390 days at 80% pay

A similar study by the University of Georgia found that longer maternity leave translates to lifelong health benefits for mothers. By analyzing Norwegian mothers, who have access to one of the best paid maternity leave policies in the world, economist Meghan Skira found that a minimum of 18 weeks of paid leave resulted in the following long-term health benefits:

• .5% to 3.7% lower BMI

• 10% less likely to have high blood pressure

• 16% to 18% less likely to smoke

• 14% to 20% more likely to exercise regularly

By comparison, 1 in 4 women in the US return to work two weeks after giving birth. That’s a far cry from the 18-week study, the recommended 14 weeks by the ILO, or even the eight-week minimum endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Whether it’s two weeks or 18 weeks, it’s clear that maternity leave needs to be redefined, and not just in terms of weeks. Many companies fail to support women before and after maternity leave, falling short of creating an ecosystem that supports the basic needs of women before and after birth.

Where do most businesses falter in supporting new parents? According to Harvard Business Review, it’s a combination of factors that reflect outdated workplace standards and create a completely avoidable retention problem for employers. So, how can we ensure comprehensive maternity care for women in the workplace?

• Proper talent to cover maternity leave: Piecemeal options to cover maternity leave cause new mothers to feel stressed and colleagues resentful. Instead of shuffling the workload around to existing team members, companies need to bring in additional resources (like a consultant) who can properly absorb and execute responsibilities.

• Comprehensive performance reviews: Biased performance reviews that focus on the employee’s time away, and not their overall contributions and performance, are more common than you might think. Schedule a performance review before your maternity leave to proactively navigate this bias. If you're a leader, calculate progress and performance for your team on a year-over-year basis.

• Basic accommodations for women who breastfeed: More dedicated lactation spaces and less pumping in bathrooms, closets, and offices. Need we say more?

Bottom line: Longer care doesn’t only mean longer leave (but it’s certainly a good place to start!). Companies also need to do more to foster an ecosystem that supports new mothers before and after their maternity leave, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s good for business, families and entire communities.

TROUBLEMAKER SPOTLIGHT

Neha Ruch, Founder of Mother Untitled and Author of The Power Pause: How to Plan a Career Break After Kids—and Come Back Stronger Than Ever

What if your perception of stay-at-home motherhood is wrong? That’s the uncomfortable question Neha Ruch was not afraid to ask again and again, as she set out to change the outdated narrative associated with being a stay-at-home mother. After 10 years working in brand strategy and receiving her MBA from Stanford, Neha paused her career after the birth of her second child and, in turn, gave birth to an entirely new idea: Mother Untitled. Along the way, she confronted countless stereotypes and dared to put people on the spot, all to spark meaningful, supportive conversations, catalyzing a shift in how society views stay-at-home motherhood. And it worked.

Mother Untitled is the world's first collective of ambitious women on career pauses and represents Neha’s most successful rebrand yet: Motherhood.

FQ: What’s the worst career advice you’ve gotten?

NR: To dream bigger. The truth is, we have to trust our own capacities and our own aspirations. I don’t want a bigger company, I want an impactful movement and a sustainable business that lets me enjoy my work and hold space for my family while my kids get older.

What’s the best piece of non-obvious career advice you’ve gotten?

Hope Taitz told me a career is made up of a series of thoughtful pauses and interval sprints, and it gave me the permission to trust the long game.

What was a “heartbeat moment” for you in your career?

Over eight years ago, I planted seeds for a movement to reshape the narrative about ambitious women leaning into family life in a sea of content speaking to the traditional working parent. It raised eyebrows among people questioning its feminism and made peers wonder what I was doing working on a “little blog.”

The community is now 225,000 women strong, and The Power Pause, my forthcoming book with Penguin Random House, releases January 14th (that’s today!). It’s ringing the cultural bell that it’s time to re-examine tropes about career breaks and seems to be really bringing women together around the reality that we are all shifting and want more options with more respect and less shame. On a practical level, it’s finally guiding women through career pauses and downshifts for family life with a strategic roadmap.

Imagine you just received the marketing version of an Emmy award. Who are the three people you’re thanking that aren’t at your current gig?

I would thank Mike Proulx, a director at my first job out of college, who brought me up the ranks with him and advocated for my capabilities despite my young age. I was the youngest person in many rooms, and he made me believe I deserved to be there.

I’d add my first consulting client, Jessica Levin, who taught me what managing women and managing mothers working flexibly could look like. She had a real trust in what I was capable of even if I didn’t work a traditional 9-5, and she was ahead of her time.

And I’d end with, last but not least, my father, who consistently taught me to set a north star for how I design my work and life and never lose sight of it.

Where have you caused trouble?

I’d have to say it’s been with Mother Untitled.

Parting with an impressive-on-paper career trajectory for stay-at-home motherhood with a side project of rebranding stay-at-home motherhood was troublesome to an odd number of people because it brought up feelings like I was giving up on my ambition and feminism. In truth, I’ve never felt so ambitious or feminist as trusting my own capacity to use this stage in my life outside of the traditional workforce to discover work I was passionate about, and use that work to truly bring women together around the universal truth that we are all evolving and shifting our relationship to work. We all want more choices to be able to have strong families, whole selves, and sustainable careers.

DEAR FQ

Your burning career questions answered

Janis Gilman of The Female Quotient weighs in:

The way women are perceived in corporate settings is often influenced by societal biases. Here are a few strategies to effectively communicate your ideas, gain respect, and make a meaningful impact in your meetings:

1. Prepare and Practice: Make sure you know your stuff! Research what you are speaking to and bring data to support your point. The more knowledgeable you are, the more confident you'll sound.

2. Choose Your Moments Wisely: Identify the natural pauses or transitions in the conversation, and then contribute your thoughts. Make sure that you are an active listener and pay attention to the viewpoints of others before interjecting.

3. Master Your Body Language: Demonstrate confidence and engagement through eye contact, avoid crossing your arms which signals defensiveness, and speak in a calm and steady tone. You want to come off as confident. Understand that sometimes people will misconstrue your body language or words, so being mindful is half the battle.

4. Frame Your Contributions Strategically: Make the most of your opportunities to engage in the conversation. Use "I" statements to make your points more personal. Encourage discussion and collaboration.

Your key to being heard and respected? Relationships. Build relationships with your colleagues, and you’ll gain advocates for meetings, calls, and projects, which will pay dividends in the long run. Celebrate your colleagues' successes and invest time in supporting your team. They’ll do the same for you.

P.S. Got a burning career question? Serve it up here to Dear FQ to score advice from a powerhouse leader in our network.

POLL THE PACK

Most employees have some level of comfort discussing professional challenges with their managers

This is a trend in the right direction, as 80% of employees feel some level of comfort in asking their managers for help with professional challenges. This speaks volumes about the cultural shift of leadership, as more managers and leaders prioritize the needs of the individuals on their team.

Taking the time to listen to your employees’ challenges and making them feel comfortable being vulnerable enough to share this information in the first place, creates a culture of caring. A culture of caring exists on a foundation of genuine, candid, and mutually respectful conversation… and not just in previously scheduled performance reviews.

This culture of caring doesn’t just benefit employees—it has an effect on the bottom line of companies, too. A study by McKinsey & Company showed a direct link between employee happiness and an increase in shareholder value, higher employee retention, and overall customer satisfaction.

Whether you’re in a thoughtful pause, accelerated sprint, or trying to speak up in a meeting, keep putting in the work that moves you forward.

Xo,

The FQ