How working motherhood has changed from generation to generation

Jenna Vassallo

Jan 24, 2024

Women aren’t always set up to succeed in the workplace - especially once they have children. But when looking back on previous generations of working mothers, we can really take stock of our progress.

WSJ reporter and Author Joann Lublin explores this topic in her book Power Moms, which has been described as “a must-read for the next generation of business leaders.”

Joann interviewed 86 executive mothers from the first trailblazing generation and their younger counterparts, including former Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer and Carol Bartz, who was the first woman to command Autodesk and Yahoo!

What Joann found in her research was a profound cultural shift between the two waves of “Power Moms”: the first generation braved the path for the second as they reshaped the U.S. business landscape.

A “Power Mom” herself, Joann spent her career in journalism—a traditionally male-dominated industry—and moved up the ranks at The Wall Street Journal before retiring from management in 2018, collecting the esteemed Gerald Loeb Lifetime Achievement Award along the way.

We interviewed Joann to dig into what she uncovered while writing Power Moms, which addresses how executive mothers navigate work and life. Read more to learn the three takeaways from our conversation.

Episode 10

The False Tradeoff

In our "Power Moms" era

Listen to the episode

There were no “family-friendly” companies decades ago

More workplaces today grasp the concept of showing up as your authentic self. And if they don’t prioritize work-life balance, Joann says professional women today feel more empowered to find a company that does.

For their mothers’ generation, this wasn’t even a possibility:

“Because the workplace landscape had changed, the younger wave of women had an opportunity to move around…For Boomer moms, you had the choice of working for a workplace that wasn't family-friendly or working for another workplace that wasn’t family-friendly, unless you chose to start your own business.”

Joann said that some of the first-wave women did venture off on their own – not just because they had a good idea, but because they wanted to work on their own terms.

Mentors—if they existed at all—were mostly male back then

They say raising kids takes a village. Navigating your career as a mother does as well.

While mentors were mostly male for Boomers, to a greater degree, the younger wave of professional women understood the importance of finding sponsors and mentors:

“Women had gotten into positions of power where they could not only tell these younger-wave women what had worked and not worked for them as a mentor, but they could be their outspoken advocate, which is what a sponsor does,” Joann said.

This could include a sponsor calling out special projects for their mentee or advocating that a mother working remotely deserves more recognition.

It’s time to ditch working mother guilt

One of the executives Joann interviewed shared 10 hacks for ending the brutal cycle of mom guilt so many of us can’t let go. One of the more powerful pieces of advice - and Joann’s own life philosophy - is to take a glass-half-full view.

She shared the example of instead of beating yourself up because your family finally sat down to eat dinner at 630pm, be proud that you’re all eating together on a busy weeknight.

“Give yourself a pat on the back,” Joann said. “Isn’t it great? I’m having dinner on a weeknight with my family, the people who I care about the most in this world. And that’s looking at life as a working mom as the glass half-full.”

To celebrate all we’ve accomplished, our team shared what they’re most proud of since joining the team:

I'm most proud of how much we have done to improve the single hardest moment for women's careers (going on parental leave) ... one that is often shrouded in insecurity and fear. We've been able to help advocate for so many women (and men!) in a way that is empowering and truly life-changing.

Allison Whalen, CEO & Founder

What am I most proud of? Growth! Growing a category of support that didn't exist before Parentaly. Growing from a one-woman bootstrapped operation to a global team of 25+ employees and coaches. Growing our overall impact for working parents, with companies investing in our parental leave programming to support employees all over the world. And growing as humans: new babies, new friends, new life experiences... all while tackling new and exciting work challenges together.

Rich Burke, Head of Growth

When I reflect on what I am personally most proud of during my time here, it's working alongside a team where we constantly evolve and optimize everything that we do in order to deliver the best possible experience for the folks going through our programs. It sounds cheesy, but there are processes that my team and I used to do 100% manually that are now completely automated and systems in place that have become second nature to how we operate. Working with such thoughtful, smart, and creative people is incredible.

Sara Ophoff, Senior Program Manager

I’m most proud about doing work that makes parents feel confident and empowered about their careers during a time that can be overwhelming and challenging – not only for our clients and users who go through Parentaly’s programs, but also with our advocacy work on LinkedIn, through our podcast and other big campaigns that make a difference. It’s been pretty rewarding to build a brand people know and love because what we’re doing resonates with so many employees’ experiences in the workforce.

Jenna Vassallo, Head of Brand & Marketing

I am so proud of the way we've approached growth with such care and intentionality - with every adjustment we've made to our offerings, we've never lost sight of our goal to provide the most supportive and valuable experience for our users. I love looking back on the early stages of conversations and building that have led us to the experience we offer today. Personally, I am extremely proud of the work I've done to scale and automate our backend!

Rachel Andes, Program Associate

I am most proud of the work we do every single day to make a positive impact on working parents! Everyday I get to work with an amazing group of people…we work hard but we also have fun.

‍Sarah Gruber, Client Partner

I'm proud of scaling an employee experience that consistently delivers positive outcomes for new parents and their organizations. Our north star has always been the user, and we never sacrifice our high quality bar!

Mansi Kothari, VP of Product & Experience

I feel a sense of pride that I get to work behind the scenes supporting everyone. I’m proud to see all of the collaboration between the team and how Parentaly positively impacts employees.

Leo Manalo, Executive Assistant

I'm most proud of going through the Parentaly program myself! I'm so proud to work for and promote this company in a time where parental leave and supportive policies are at the forefront of a national conversation. But beyond this, I'm most proud to call myself a participant.

Emmy Carragher, Enterprise Partnerships

I’m really proud of the work I did to expand our coaching bench globally at Parentaly. It was so rewarding, not to mention insightful, to connect with talented coaches from around the globe. This expansion not only enriched our coaching offerings but also strengthened our commitment to making a meaningful impact on families all over the world.

‍Nicole Hagemann-Bex, Senior Coaching Operations Manager

I have tremendous pride in the knowledge that what I am doing will change the career landscape for new parents, particularly mothers. This will make it more likely that my daughter can have a career AND a family without worrying about the unintentional negative impact of taking parental leave. Nothing makes me prouder than that.

Mindy Himmel-Brown, Strategic Partnerships

In my short time at Parentaly, I'm proudest of the work we're doing with our clients' ERG groups to elevate the stories and advice of actual working parents. It's such an impactful way to spread the word about Parentaly as an essential resource for all people growing their families, and the managers who support them!

Alex Diskin, Enterprise Account Manager

I'm most proud about using LinkedIn to connect with others. I was recently able to share a helpful return to work doc with 50+ new people looking to make a difference at their company. Was pretty cool that people from Chewy, McDonald's, Honda, Cisco, AWS, Walmart and more want to integrate just a piece of what we have to offer. Also...I'm so proud of the way I feel as an employee at Parentaly. For the first time in my career my personal interests align with my professional interests and I've never felt more motivated.

Jenny Hurwitz, Strategic Partnerships

I'm really proud of being able to help the Experience team by handling the supportive functions so they can focus on the bigger picture. It feels great to know that I’m making things easier for them and contributing to the team’s success.

James Mango, Executive Assistant

Tagged

Working parenthood

Gender equity