When Flexibility Disappears: The Rise of the Mom Exodus

Since January 2025, more than 212,000 women have left the U.S. workforce—and a closer look shows that it is overwhelmingly mothers, particularly those with young children.

This stat did not surprise me, but it did alarm me. We are watching in real time as the hard-won gains for working women—particularly those earned during the pandemic—are being erased. Flexible work is vanishing. Inclusive workplaces are retreating. Affordable childcare is still nowhere to be found. And who pays the price? Mothers. Families. Communities. Our economy.

I am calling it what it is. This is the Mom Exodus, and if we do not talk about it now, we will be dealing with its ripple effects for generations.

The Numbers Do Not Lie

Since the start of 2025, approximately 212,000 women over the age of 20 have exited the workforce. Among mothers aged 25 to 44 with young children, participation in the labor force has dropped by nearly three percentage points—something we have not seen in more than three years.

As usual, the impact is not evenly distributed. Black women and younger mothers are being hit the hardest. We know this. We always know this. And yet we keep allowing it to happen.

Let that number settle in: 212,000 women. That is 212,000 families. That is 212,000 paychecks. That is the economic heartbeat of thousands of communities.

I remember the day before I was supposed to return from my first maternity leave—ten years ago now. Like so many women, I did not have any kind of real paid leave. I was working for VZ, and I scraped together six weeks of paid short-term disability with some PTO. That was it. I sat on the couch in tears—not because I did not want to go back, but because I could not believe that the time with my newborn was already over.

Working mom with infant on lap.

At the time, I was making around sixty thousand dollars a year. Between taxes and childcare, it was almost a wash. But I knew what was at stake. I stayed. Because I understood the compounding impact of earned income. I knew if I stepped away then, I might never get back on track. That was before remote work and flexibility were even part of the conversation. I stayed. But not forever.

Why Are Moms Leaving?

Return-to-office mandates are suffocating working mothers.

During the pandemic, flexible models allowed women to show up fully—for their jobs and for their families. I will never stop being grateful that the pandemic overlapped with my first big executive role. It was a game changer. The hours I used to spend commuting and getting everyone out the door? Gone. I got those hours back. I was there to pick up my kids from school. I was present for my life. That flexibility allowed me to thrive. And now, it is being ripped away.

The childcare crisis is worsening.

In many states, childcare costs more than college tuition. And families are asking the very reasonable question: Why am I working just to hand over my entire paycheck to daycare?

I remember the first time I visited a daycare for Hudson. I had no idea what the cost would be. When the director slid the pricing sheet across the table and I saw the numbers, I nearly choked. It was more than the mortgage on my first home—a $150,000 townhouse I bought in my twenties.

DEI efforts are being gutted.

The current political climate has triggered mass layoffs and DEI rollbacks. Companies that once claimed to prioritize equity are backpedaling. And who gets left out? Women. Women of color. Mothers.

And the motherhood penalty is alive and thriving.

Mothers are still seen as less committed, less promotable, less leadership material. It starts long before a child ever arrives. Employers wonder if a young woman might become a mom—and whether that alone disqualifies her from opportunities.

This issue matters so much to me that it is the topic I hope to speak on at SXSW. The motherhood penalty shows up in hiring decisions, in who gets tapped for promotions, and in the subtle assumptions about who can lead and who cannot.

I once received feedback from a manager that people were "noticing" I left work thirty minutes earlier than everyone else. Never mind that I was the only one on the team with two kids in daycare. That was the only thirty minutes I had to make it through traffic and get to them on time. And the unspoken message was clear: I was being judged not on my work, but on my family responsibilities.

What the Mom Exodus Costs Us All

This is not just about individual women.

When 212,000 women leave the workforce, companies lose top talent. Communities lose financial stability. Families lose economic security.

And most concerning of all, generations lose momentum. We already know the pay gap will take over a century to close. If we continue this trajectory, my daughter will not see pay equity. Maybe my granddaughter will.

This is not just a women’s issue. It is an economic issue. A cultural issue. A human issue.

What Needs to Change

Flexibility is not a perk. It is a business strategy.

Remote work. Flexible hours. Hybrid models. These are not luxuries. They are essential to keeping women in the workforce.

Affordable childcare is infrastructure.

Without it, families cannot function. I do not claim to have the solution, but I will support any legislature, company, or initiative that works to make it possible.

We need to value nonlinear careers.

Other countries do this. In the Netherlands, part-time workers receive benefits and protections. Why not here?

DEI is not optional. It is foundational.

I have had to make hard choices about where I shop. When companies eliminate DEI programs, they are telling women we do not matter. We need to respond with our wallets.

And we must name and fight the motherhood penalty.

Stop assuming. Start asking. Stop wondering who is babysitting my kids while I am on a work trip. Start acknowledging that I am capable of both.

If you are a manager, give grace. Normalize the school field trip. Normalize working off-camera with a sick kid at home. Be outcome-focused, not seat-focused.

Sticky Floors: What Happens When We Internalize the Pressure

This is where my own framework comes in. The sticky floors.

These are the internal beliefs and behaviors that keep women stuck. The ones that whisper, “If I cannot do it all, maybe I am not cut out for this.” The ones that say, “If my career stalls after kids, maybe that is just the way it is.”

But these are not truths. They are toxic stories we have been fed. They keep us still. They keep us silent. They keep us small.

And they only have power if we believe them.

We Can Stop the Mom Exodus

This exodus is not inevitable. It is not destiny. It is a choice.

A choice made by companies.A choice made by policymakers.A choice made by us as a society.

And just like any sticky floor, once we name it, we can begin to rise above it.

Because when mothers are supported, when flexibility is respected, when women are valued and promoted, we move closer to closing every gap that still exists.

We can be both and incredible mom AND an incredible professional.

Are you with me?