Often when we discuss supporting women in the workplace, the conversation immediately turns to maternity leave and motherhood. But more millennials and Gen Zers are choosing to be child-free by choice. This poses a challenge for employers to be more creative about how they approach supporting women’s ability to achieve and advance in the workplace — beyond simply offering maternity leave and family planning.

Rather than associating women with the gender role of childbirth, we need to be more intentional in creating workplace strategies to support all women — regardless of their background, abilities, age, race, ethnicity, country of origin, native language, economic, marital or parental status.

Gender equity is something organizations should care about beyond International Women’s Month. So in this episode of Inclusion in Progress, we take a look at how employers can support women at work who are either childless or child-free, especially as these circumstances and choices become more common for professionals from younger generations who are already stepping into our workplaces. 

In This Episode:

[2:33] Why is it hard for women to discuss being child-free by choice?

[6:58] Why are more younger Gen Z and millennial professionals choosing to opt out of having children, and how will that affect gender equity initiatives at work?

[11:14] What is the major difference between child-free by choice and childless?

[16:02] How well-educated, single, non-parent women are evaluated differently at work than both women who have children and their male peers.

[21:30] How to make your work environment psychologically safe for child-free and childless women and why that matters for employers designing gender-inclusive workplaces.

Links:

info@inclusionandprogress.com 

www.inclusioninprogress.com/podcast

www.linkedin.com/company/inclusion-in-progress

Download our 2023 Future of Work Culture whitepaper.

Ready to renew your commitment to greater equity and inclusion? Get in touch today to learn more about working with us in 2023.

Read our Forbes features on Ways to Support Employee Mental Wellbeing, What Self Care Looks Like For Us, and How to Create Effective Online Diversity Training.

Read more of Pew Research Center’s 2021 study on US childless adults. 

Listen to our podcast guests speak on Miscarriage, Menopause & More: Uncovering Real Experiences of Women at Work.

Read more about the current state of millennial debt in the Wall Street Journal article.

To learn more about Jennifer Merluzzi’s research, check out how single US women say they face workplace penalties.

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