The conversation around motherhood has seen a profound transformation over the past 10 years. In many ways, this shift is reflective of other factors – how society views gender roles, family dynamics and workplace equality. From the growing recognition of unpaid labor to the push for workplaces that genuinely support working mothers, the narrative surrounding parenting—especially motherhood—has changed in ways that were unthinkable just a decade ago.
Parenting experts point to five key trends driving this evolution.
1. There’s a better understanding of the economic benefit to supporting moms in the workplace.
The pandemic amplified discussions about the challenges of balancing work and motherhood, particularly with the rise of remote work and caregiving responsibilities. Advocacy for parental leave policies, childcare support and workplace flexibility has gained momentum, with a focus on how these issues disproportionately affect mothers.
Author and activist Lauren Smith Brody, who published The Fifth Trimester in 2017, has been at the forefront of this conversation. In her book, she frequently uses the phrase “back to work after maternity leave.” Now, she consciously changes her phrasing to,”back to paid work after maternity leave.”
“All mothers work, and all work matters,” Brody told me, “Paid or unpaid, it all counts. 41% of families have a primary- or solo-breadwinning mom.”
Brody has also expanded her research to include caregivers of all genders and stages in the five-generation workforce. Through her work with organizations and her role as the co-founder of the nonpartisan national nonprofit Chamber of Mothers, she advocates for systemic change.
“When we support all caregivers, we uplift the often unseen labor of women and help propel gender equality,” she explains.
Christine Michel Carter, an author and advocate for working mothers, believes the pandemic marked an inflection point in how society views working parents.
“It forced companies to prioritize policies previously dismissed as impossible,” she says. “In 2020, over 1.4 million mothers left the workforce, which is a staggering figure. Backup care during the pandemic was a critical lifeline for organizations that wanted to retain employees. Without it, 50% of working parents would have reduced their hours, a third would have missed critical deadlines, and 20% would have left their jobs altogether. The pandemic highlighted mothers’ essential role at work and home and how important it is to provide them with meaningful support.”
Carter emphasizes that systemic challenges persist: unequal pay, the lack of affordable childcare, and limited parental leave for fathers all reinforce imbalances in parenting roles.
“Addressing these interconnected issues requires a three-pronged approach across policy, workplace culture, and societal expectations,” Carter says.
On the bright side, Carter points out, “People now understand that supporting mothers is not just about convenience; it’s about equity and sustainability.”
Brody echoes this sentiment and highlights the business case for change. She points out that offering better support for parents isn’t just a compassionate choice but a profitable one, as demonstrated in the ROI of Caregiving Benefits white paper, a joint report between The Fifth Trimester and Vivvi Early Learning.
Brody also underscores the power of language in driving cultural shifts. “Language can be incredibly validating to people’s identities,” she says. “So often, we need to understand that what we’re experiencing isn’t an individual challenge but part of a systemic issue. Collectively, we can do our part to help correct it.”
Almost eight years after the publication of The Fifth Trimester, she still hears from new moms grateful to have a name that explains the murky time of transition back to paid work after leave.
“Name the thing, and there’s so much power in shared identity and experience,” she says. “We can only solve challenges that we can see and name.”
2. There is a better understanding that all moms work, whether they’re paid or not.
Nine years ago, after earning her MBA from Stanford and working in brand marketing, Neha Ruch had her first child. “It was the height of the Lean In movement, and when I decided to downshift to part-time work and eventually take a break to stay home, I was shocked by the shame and stigma I faced,” she says. “Ambitious women on career pauses were still burdened by outdated stereotypes and often felt sidelined.”
That experience motivated Ruch to start the Mother Untitled movement, a community dedicated to shifting perceptions of stay-at-home motherhood. “My mission was—and still is—to empower women to take career pauses with confidence, without shame, and with a sense of possibility,” she explains.
Today, Ruch is out with a new book, The Power Pause, which she describes as a “how-to for a new generation of ambitious women to prepare for a pause with confidence, financial dignity, to enjoy this stage of life with rhythms and support that work for you, and unlock the full possibility of personal growth and creative exploration to return with confidence.”
Ruch believes that the conversation around motherhood, particularly stay-at-home motherhood, is meaningfully evolving, thanks in part to the work emerging from her community.
She critiques antiquated perceptions of stay-at-home mothers, noting how, “The June Cleaver image from the 1950s has morphed into one-dimensional characters like Craft Project Mom, Peppy Athleisure Mom, or Exhausted-in-Sweatpants Mom. None of these stereotypes reflect the majority of stay-at-home mothers—certainly not the nearly three million women of prime working age who went on career breaks for childcare reasons during the pandemic.”
That’s why The Power Pause features diverse stories of stay-at-home mothers who defy these stereotypes. Ruch believes it’s time for society to recognize career pauses as one powerful part of a long game so more women have choices to pause or downshift without stigma or penalty.
3. The role of social media’s impact on motherhood, once lauded, is now criticized.
What was once seen as authentic is now often perceived as performative. While some mothers feel empowered to share their struggles honestly online, others face new pressures to “perform” idealized versions of motherhood. This is no more apparent than in the rise of “trad wife culture,” a movement where women embrace traditional gender roles, focusing on homemaking and childcare, while a husband serves as the primary breadwinner.
In some corners of the internet, the June Cleaver stereotype is back.
In the early years of social media, motherhood was discussed openly, sparking candid conversations that increased awareness of mental health issues like postpartum depression and other challenges mothers were previously hesitant to address. These daily glimpses into people’s lives have also deepened our understanding of how a parent’s work and home life can intersect in ways that would have been hard to imagine a decade ago.
“The overall conversation about motherhood and women choosing to incorporate their kids more into their work lives has definitely increased,” points out Daniella Rabbani, host of The Mom Curious Podcast. “Influencers and mommy bloggers have done a huge service to women in that regard. Brands seek women with active audiences who are incorporating the work of motherhood into their business model.”
But Rabbani acknowledges that this candor comes at a cost.
“On a positive note, moms have cache. We are relevant money makers and spenders,” she says. “But most accounts are glossy, self promoting and even dishonest profiles of motherhood. In an effort to monetize, these portraits of an idealized ‘mother’ leave out key components in their storytelling. The results may be helpful to individual creators but harmful to mothers in general. The best thing we can do is be honest with each other in order to support one another.”
4. The conversation around moms has expanded to include all caregivers.
A subtle but meaningful shift Brody has observed while working with various employee resource groups (ERGs) over the years is the evolution of their names. Groups once called “Moms at [Company Name]” are now adopting more inclusive language, such as “Families at [Company Name]” or “Caregivers at [Company Name].”
“There’s still a persistent cultural belief that caregiving is primarily a mother’s responsibility,” says Deepti Sharma, an activist and former Entrepreneur in Residence at Barnard and Columbia. “This narrative not only limits mothers but also excludes fathers and nontraditional caregivers from fully engaging in parenting. To move forward, we need systemic changes like universal childcare and paid family leave, but we also need a cultural shift that values caregiving as a shared responsibility, not a gendered one.”
Recognizing the care work done not only by mothers but also by fathers and caregivers of all genders has emphasized its importance and the value society is beginning to place on it.
“More people are talking about caregiving as essential, valuable work,” Sharma adds. “It’s no longer something that happens in the background.”
5. There’s now a collective understanding that the challenges mothers face are systemic, not individual.
“We are finally beginning to move away from the idea that the challenges of motherhood in America are personal failings, and beginning to understand it as structural and policy failings,” says Dawn Huckelbridge, founding director of Paid Leave for All. “Our structures haven’t caught up. We passed temporary policies like paid leave and made short-term investments in child care, but then we went back to the status quo. There is still a lot of big corporate money to be made in that myth about motherhood persisting.”
“Our system is broken,” Brody adds. “We have a school day that is hours shorter than the work day. AAP guidelines to keep the baby sleeping in your room until six months and to feed breast milk until two years, but no paid leave that makes those things possible.”
Huckelbridge predicts that in 2025 and beyond, these conversations will remain front and center. “As the sandwich generation grows, more spouses, partners, and men will take on caregiving responsibilities, which will naturally increase its visibility and value,” she explains. “Issues surrounding women’s care and labor are finally being recognized as not just social or ‘soft’ issues, but as economic imperatives.”
“American society is going through growing pains, one step forward, another step back. Right now we seem to be in another heated moment where traditional and toxic masculinity is trying to claw back,” Huckelbridge continues. “The status quo can seem easier — we could keep making mothers shoulder the lions’ share of work and burden, or we could all do the hard work of creating new gender norms, and the investments in creating new programs, like federal paid leave.
“It’s a house of cards,” she points out. “Women can’t do it all, and if we don’t invest in real infrastructure, the whole house will eventually fall.”