March has felt special to me since seventh grade. As a surprise to no one, I loved school projects. My language arts teacher, Mr. Gleason, started the month by assigning a research paper on the life and impact of a woman in history. I loved the shit out of that project. I went to my aunt’s to use her computer and type my report complete with clipart and cover pages. I remember that assignment so vividly that I will never forget the importance of March as Women’s History Month.

I struggle to consider myself a leader, but with the little platform I have here with my podcast, I wanted to do something special to commemorate this month. Last year I started my March podcasts with a State of Women report and followed it up with kickass interviews with inspiring women all month long. 

I planned the same for this year and have the month lined up with really cool women doing really cool things. But I have to admit I’m feeling less than inspired by my State of Women report. 

I’m not especially surprised, but the statistics make my casual observations more concrete than I wish. 

This spring my family is crawling out of what seems like a winter of sickness. Someone in our family of six was sick, missing work, or missing school since Thanksgiving. This last month has been week after week of upset schedules from winter storms and school breaks. It’s been challenging for me to keep up with my business even with the immense privileges I have in place like a working spouse and a flexible career with work-from-home potential. 

I posted on Instagram to check in on my friends who work outside of the home. How the actual heck are we holding up, moms? My DMs flooded:

• “It’s killing us. Everyone feels it. No one knows what to do.”
• “Same! I have been thinking about that a lot lately too with no daycare, appts, just life in general.”
• “Molly, I have this conversation with my husband ALL the time. There is NO way I could work traditionally in an office anymore.
• “I totally agree with this!! This is exactly why I started my own business as an organizer because all the nursing jobs don’t allow flexibility and require shift work or just the inability to be home and around when it matters.”
• “Yes! Even though I have very understanding bosses, they are still very traditional and have made it clear I will never be able to work even one day a week consistently from home. Something needs to change, and honestly as more women are returning to workforce after Covid I believe a less traditional workforce is the only way to keep women/moms/caretakers in the workforce.”
• “Appreciate you talking about this. I think about this often. Think it’s similar to when you look back on hard times and you realize you got through it/did it because you didn’t have a choice.”
• “100%. People are finding more value in how they spend their time…the work-life balancing of working from home is just insane.”

Also tons of hand clap emojis and TikToks from people with the same message. 

“It’s killing us. Everyone feels it. No one knows what to do.”

Dang it if I don’t feel like since Covid women are taking a step backward.

I love my flexible career and a big part of what I share is helping women build a career that works for them. But this is a choice of mine. A privileged choice. Many women are being forced out of the workplace.

In April of 2022 the number of women in the labor force was at its lowest rate in the past 30 years. According to an article by Fortune, over one million women left the labor force from before the pandemic to September 2022. Although the unemployment rate is considered to be at the upper limit of “the sweet spot” at 4.6%, Black women have 8.5% unemployment and Latinas have 6.1%. Not so sweet.

Women who are employed are struggling too, according to a report by McKinsey and Company (and my own Instagram research). 

• 42% of women in the workplace said they felt burned out.
• 29% of women are thinking about switching jobs to less demanding ones or leaving the workforce together, compared to 22% of men.
• In 2022, the rate of women in leadership leaving their companies was at an all-time high in years.

CNBC reported on why many powerful women, like role model of mine Suneera Madhani, are stepping back from their leadership positions. “There comes a time in one’s life, though when you have to decide what you’re chasing and recalibrate your why…”

I’m all about working for your why. But WHY are we losing prominent women in leadership when there are so few there to begin with?

Where are the women?

It’s not just leadership positions lacking women, in rural Iowa it seems everyone is hurting for employees. When people ask where the employees are, I have to say where are the women? What are we doing to support women to work out of the home if they choose? 

In my home state of Iowa, according to a report by the Des Moines Register, full-time infant care at a licensed center in Iowa was $11,400 per year in 2021, compared to $9,942 for in-state undergraduate tuition at the University of Iowa. 

I’m not saying that quality childcare isn’t an essential investment, I’m pointing out that women earn, on average, $40,681 per year in this state. When they are making only 83.7% of their male partners, their careers are more likely to take a backseat in their child raising years.

Be their village

For an attempt to a light hearted ending, I’ll share a story about my 12-year-old who loves Would You Rather. He is such an old soul and so insightful. Me, less so.

To illustrate, I recently initiated a game of Would You Rather with the question: Would you rather fart every time you take a step or burp every time you open your mouth?

He asked: Would you rather bring world peace or be able to make someone’s day by just smiling?

You guys, we’re in some deep shit here. I don’t think a single blog post or podcast is going to make a huge dent in this problem. But I have to think we can have a little role in making a change for the better.

Reach out to your girlfriends. Be their village. Don’t wait until they ask for help. 

Reach out to your girlfriends. Be their village. Don’t wait until they ask for help. 

If you are in a position of leadership, consider how you can help caregivers stay in the workforce. Offer a hybrid work schedule or flexible hours. Offer a cost of living pay increase before they ask for it.

Consider one small way you can take a step to correct this course.

More this month

The rest of the episodes this month will feature incredible women doing incredible things in business. But none of them “do it all.” I do what I can to be real in my influence and show how women are making their work work for them, even when the odds seem stacked against us.

Connect with Molly

Find me, Molly Knuth, on Instagram and Facebook.
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