This International Women’s Day, What Will You #ChooseToChallenge?

At this time of year, we set aside a single day to celebrate women's achievements, raise awareness against bias and take action for equality. Given the way the pandemic upended women’s lives over the past year, the type of parity gains typically celebrated on International Women's Day take a backseat to what women were able to accomplish in such an extraordinary year. For some people, “flattening the curve” simply meant relocating the workspace. For many others, particularly working women, it meant reconfiguring every day to accommodate childcare, teaching, homecare, sometimes parental care, and of course, working. The authenticity and humanity they brought to their work accelerated changes in the way work is done. It created opportunities for employers to be more supportive of working mothers, offer greater flexibility and reduce the need for women to make a difficult choice between career and parenting.

The Twin Battles of Burnout and Balance

As millions of Americans moved their offices home, they discovered the reality of remote work did not quite match up to the dream. They found themselves struggling to keep up with increased responsibilities across the board and an often unrelenting need to excel in every area. Each day quickly became a battle to avoid burnout and achieve better balance in everything they did. While I believe balance is achievable under normal circumstances, the pandemic tended to blur the boundaries between professional and personal life. The unexpected need for 24/7 childcare and the added responsibility for teaching (or at a minimum, supervising) school-age children put parents, especially mothers, under tremendous pressure. Many decided to eliminate the struggle for balance by opting out of their careers, at least temporarily.

Remote Work Is Only Part of the Story

It’s important to remember that, despite all the spotlights on the newly remote workforce, not everyone has the option to work from home. Based on BLS data, in reality, at the peak of the remote work phenomenon, less than 40% of the American workforce went virtual. The other 60% hold jobs that must be performed in traditional worksites. Many of these are hourly positions held by women. The lack of viable childcare options, coupled with school lockdowns, left many working women with little choice but to abandon their jobs. 

What Can We Do to Accelerate Positive Changes for Women?

An unexpected bonus of the lockdowns was that we all brought our authentic selves to work. For some, that meant not being totally pulled together for every call. It also meant Zoom calls with the unplanned participation of children and family pets. No one minded. We loved the reality check. We had no choice but to let go of some of the familiar norms that defined the traditional workplace. We found out lots of people have noisy children and barking dogs. And it didn’t mean they were any less effective in their professional capacity. 

Keeping in mind that if you can’t see it, you can’t be it, whether you are working remotely or in a traditional setting, we should continue to be more human. Be more authentic. Challenge conformity. Be willing to be vulnerable. Humanity and vulnerability lead to trust. Share your whole life. Business leaders should facilitate greater flexibility in the workforce, whether it is remote or not. That might mean opportunities for work-at-home days for knowledge workers or scheduling flexibility for onsite workers. (There are mobile apps that can help you do the latter when remote work is not possible.) If you are a leader, then you should model the behaviors you want to see.

Enjoy More Snow Days

We recently had a snow day (in my case, in Chicago) that intermittently showcased my son in Zoom calls all throughout the day (he even snuck in and started to play the drums during one!). I loved that nobody minded. The bigger bonus was the ability to act on an impulse to simply gear up and head out to play in the snow during a break in calls. Later that day, I made up for the lost time when I cooked dinner while on another business call (yes, during a Zoom call, I cooked dinner - and was present, took notes and immediately sent a follow-up!). Rather than creating a distraction, it all added a level of humanity to the calls and to our relationships. I vote for more of it!

What Will You #ChooseToChallenge?

This year’s International Women's Day theme is #ChooseToChallenge. Given all we learned about new ways of working in the past year, including what works and what doesn’t for working moms, I urge everyone to challenge traditional norms. The old normal didn’t work for everyone. Don’t be afraid to question or look for new options that will better support women in managing their multiple roles as working professionals. Choose to challenge any notion that motherhood and career are mutually exclusive. Encourage every woman to follow her multiple dreams, or we risk losing a significant portion of our workforce post-Covid. Don’t let women’s equity advances be another victim of the pandemic. Instead, celebrate all that women have accomplished in the past year. #ChooseToChallenge #IWD2021