Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their very own.
What if I instructed you that there is a large pool of potential staff who’ve mastered multitasking, are remarkably resilient, emotionally clever and well-trained? They usually hardly ever complain? Additionally, they’re simple to search out. Feels like a dream, proper?
These persons are mothers. Mothers are patient and hard-working. We, ladies, predict it from ourselves.
Ladies stay underrepresented in management (nonetheless less than 30% in C-suite roles within the US). Ladies are sometimes sidelined not due to a scarcity of ability or ambition, however by systemic and internalized limitations.
The invisible weight
As a mother of two, for a few years, I lived with the phantasm that feminism had already received. They gave me, as a girl, all of the rights to work and construct my very own profession, proper? I did not perceive why it felt so onerous.
I assumed that I used to be the issue, and no person else felt how I felt. I did not acknowledge how deeply internalized misogyny formed my very own notion of myself. How I self-censored that I used to be a startup founder, a strategist and a product builder. However I at all times needed to have children, and simply as I started elevating my neurodivergent daughter, I absolutely understood how invisible, unpaid labor reshapes your view of value and self-worth.
In a recent piece I wrote for Entrepreneur, I described how constructing a support system for my daughter mirrored the construction of my startup: managing a workforce, setting milestones and adapting rapidly to vary. But nobody sees a mom making a schedule for her baby caregivers as a founder. And that is the issue. We do not body caregiving (even for neurotypical youngsters) — deeply advanced, managerial work — as management as a result of we have been taught to not.
Associated: On Momternships: Do Working Moms Really Need to Start From Scratch?
Internalized misogyny: The quiet enforcer
Patriarchy will not be over, it is merely gone underground — and ladies typically implement it themselves. Internalized misogyny tells us to downplay our success, to self-edit our voices, to view nurturing as separate from management, not a power of it.
I used to be at a tech convention in Las Vegas, and seen one thing bizarre. There was no line in entrance of the ladies’s restroom. In the meantime, the boys queued up. Normally, it is the opposite manner round. That small commentary hit me onerous. Ladies are nonetheless so few in my trade.
And let’s speak about expectations: ladies are anticipated to carry out of their jobs, preserve the family, increase youngsters and keep emotionally obtainable. And on high of all of it, hold manicured arms. The double burden is actual, and it is draining.
Why it is a enterprise problem, not only a social one
It is not simply unfair. It is inefficient. Companies lose once they ignore how gendered expectations exclude half the expertise pool. Even in 2025, ladies are less likely to apply for management roles if job descriptions skew masculine. And when AI picture mills are requested to create a “CEO,” the result’s at all times a white, middle-aged man (strive it!). That bias is not the machine’s fault. It reflects the data (and the bias) we have fed it, which suggests if we wish to change the output, we have to change the enter.
That features our personal minds.
Associated: How Moms Build Empires with Love and Grit
Why I rent ladies and mothers particularly
At my firm, 80% of the workforce are ladies, and most are mothers. I rent them not as a favor, however as a result of they’re a number of the strongest professionals I’ve ever labored with. Motherhood teaches you prioritize quick, handle chaos and hold shifting it doesn’t matter what as a result of you haven’t any time to waste.
Moms are disciplined, emotionally intelligent and deeply dedicated. My very own mother instructed me, “I would not have constructed my profession with out you.” And I really feel the identical. My children did not gradual me down; they gave me an entire new sense of goal. I see that very same hearth within the ladies I rent. And once they’re supported, they shine.
What can companies do proper now?
This is not about rewriting your total company construction in a single day. However here is what you can begin doing at this time to unlock an unimaginable workforce:
- Audit your job postings for gendered language. Research shows that adverts emphasizing traits like “aggressive” and “aggressive” appeal to dramatically fewer feminine candidates than these highlighting “enthusiasm” and “innovation.”
- Supply flexibility not simply as a profit, however as a baseline. Ladies provided excessive flexibility are way more productive and constant — 66 % say they’d stick with a versatile employer three‑plus years, in contrast with simply 19 % when flexibility is absent.
- Mentor — and sponsor — upward. An absence of influential sponsors, not expertise, is a primary reason ladies stall earlier than the C‑suite.
- Problem the bias. Whether or not in AI tools, workforce suggestions, or hiring panels, be proactive in asking, “Who’s lacking right here?”
As a result of once we embrace extra ladies, we do not simply create fairness. We construct higher companies.
What if I instructed you that there is a large pool of potential staff who’ve mastered multitasking, are remarkably resilient, emotionally clever and well-trained? They usually hardly ever complain? Additionally, they’re simple to search out. Feels like a dream, proper?
These persons are mothers. Mothers are patient and hard-working. We, ladies, predict it from ourselves.
Ladies stay underrepresented in management (nonetheless less than 30% in C-suite roles within the US). Ladies are sometimes sidelined not due to a scarcity of ability or ambition, however by systemic and internalized limitations.
The remainder of this text is locked.
Be part of Entrepreneur+ at this time for entry.
