Supporting Women’s Career Stability: What Leaders Must Do Now

Women have long faced challenges in balancing work, family responsibilities, and caregiving; from managing childcare to supporting aging relatives and navigating other family demands. In recent years, these pressures have increased as many working women juggle evolving workplace expectations, responsibilities at home, and managing a balance between professional growth and family needs.

As a result, many women are feeling burnt out, with limited relief in sight. Some have paused their career advancement to focus on family demands, while others are seeking employers who offer greater flexibility, support, and understanding of the realities working women face.

What can Canadian workplaces do to retain women during these stressful times?

With potential of their return to the workplace, all business leaders need to understand how to support women in areas of mental health and wellness, as there has been a rise of 100% in rates of depression and anxiety for mothers and even higher rise for mothers who are Indigenous, Black, or other women of colour.

Leaders need to continue to maintain some of the positive changes we have all seen from the pandemic such as flexible work schedules, part time working, compressed work weeks, job sharing etc. Workplaces also need to continue advocating for better more affordable childcare.

Women also need to continue advocating for themselves and consider their own career development. However systemic barriers still exist in many workplaces and organizations need to recognize the issues and understand how they can support women in their career progression by:

• Awareness and understanding of the specific needs for women – Leaders need to consider and address the differences between developing women and men for future leadership role.

  
  

• Leadership training and coaching designed specifically for women- Developing training for women to strengthen emotional intelligence, learn different approaches for effectively handling common obstacles, and develop the skills necessary to stand out as a leader.

  
  

• Creating a mentoring/sponsorship program - Both mentors and sponsors programs are critical to helping aspiring women leaders gain the perspective and connections they need to take on larger roles and advance their careers.

  
  

• Networking groups of like-minded peers –women network differently to men; they are more focused on building long-term personal connections or friendships. They also frequently seek advice for both personal and professional needs and so enjoy meeting up with others in similar situations i.e., other working mom’s, single parents, single women etc. 

  
  

If business leaders don’t take note of these issues, they could loose great talented women to competitors who are more progressive and forward thinking in developing programs for women to assist them with their career development needs and work life balance concerns.