NEW YORK, (May 7, 2021) – Caroline Barrett, SanovaWorks Vice President of Operations
This past year has uprooted many unspoken and unaddressed issues in our country. The pandemic surfaced many inequities and disparities in so many facets of our lives: school, healthcare, policing, the list goes on.
Reflecting on the upcoming Mother’s Day, it is hard not to think of the hundreds of thousands of women who left the paying workforce in the wake of the pandemic – and the pivotal role they hold in making the world go ‘round.
As a mother who spent last Mother’s Day crying, heartbroken at how ill-equipped I felt to juggle professional work with childcare and household routines and family – and how disappointed I was with myself to consistently meet my children’s own pandemic-induced depression with stress and frustration, rather than maternal compassion – I can attest, motherhood is the hardest job in the world.
This past year here at SanovaWorks, we rallied around our mom and parent colleagues to be part of their support system – it was a company-wide effort. As a community, we understood black-out times to accommodate childcare shifts; we trumpeted our flexible working schedule policy, both internally and externally; we kept our communications open and our schedules transparent; we listened (even if our videoconference mics were muted due to children screaming in the background), and we encouraged folks set boundaries and take care.
Collectively we created a supportive space at a time when a lot of moms felt their lives were in free-fall.
As the labor data shows, not all womxn had such a supportive and flexible professional work culture. And so this Mother’s Day, SanovaWorks will make a donation to Marshall Plan for Moms, an organization focused on advocating for public and private sector policies to support all moms, like paid family leave, affordable childcare, equal pay protection for women, job retraining, and compensation for moms forced to give up paying jobs to do unpaid caregiving work.
Moms are the most resilient womxn out there, but this Mother’s Day, maybe give them a break and don’t ask them to be.
Wishing you all peace, rest, and a light heart,
Caroline