Divorce is the number one cause of poverty for women in developed countries. My economist friend once told me that.
I hate being called a “mom”. It feels like a box, one in which there is a tired rundown woman wearing a food-stained house dress, chasing bad-ass kids around the room, and who has long forgotten that there was once a “self” which belonged to her, and therefore has no fantasies of ever finding it.
Women want to work! They do not want to stay home all day and get pocket-money from their men. Women who have kids do not want to stay home for years and decades serving their family. They do it because someone has to. All the moms I know had careers before they gave birth, and at some point, they want to get back into the game, make money, and build a career or at least a professional life.
She Who Can Wrangle Kids Can Lead a Team
I run a small team, so I have limited exposure to masses of colleagues. However, when I talk to my friends who work in offices I have to laugh at the similarities between my children’s behavior and how coworkers interact.
A mother’s daily life involves conflict resolution, getting people to feel good about doing things they do not want to do, and fostering a harmonious atmosphere where everyone is acting for the greater good of the group at large. Manager goals!
Dumb Recruiters Don’t Hire Moms
The insipid truth is that once you push a baby out of your body, many recruiters taint you as unemployable. I know a lawyer, a journalist, and a techie. All have children and war stories of not being able to re-enter the workplace because they have been gone for a few years and the big blank space on their resume is seen as an unforgiveable absence that results in them being rejected over and over again in the employment process.
Wtf?! Let’s be clear: You gotta be able to do the job or you should not get the job. I am certainly not advocating pity hiring. I am however advocating that recruiters stop discriminating against mothers and start hiring smart and qualified women who gave birth at some point, stayed home to care for their children, and want to return to the workplace to earn money, build a career, and get her life back. You know, that thing that men do all the time while their women raise their kids.
In the worst-case scenario, it takes the woman a bit of time to get up to speed on the latest technologies and trends, but you can expect the same thing with a new graduate or someone who has switched industries or jobs, or even someone who has been working non-stop but has simply not been keeping up, just coasting. Guess what? The worst-case almost never happens. Smart people catch up fast. Period.
The Mom-Brain Situation
Mom-brain is what happens when a woman has a baby, and due to sleep deprivation from all-night feedings and suddenly dealing with millions of things at once to keep the baby alive, she forgets things, usually things pertaining to herself like eating, or she can’t think straight, usually about things relating to herself like her name. This only lasts a few months, and then something amazing happens. She becomes a highly trained, laser-sharp, navy seal crushing machine who has never been sharper in her mind, clearer in her analysis, or physically stronger. She becomes an asset. To her family, to her herself, and to the workforce. Any company lucky enough to hire her gets a fearless professional who will steer the ship through the roughest seas, develop winning strategies, and execute execute execute.
Dear recruiters, this is truly why you should hire moms. Besides the fact that qualified people should not be discriminated against, there is also the fact that moms are smart beasts who do not get tired, are superhuman multitaskers, and can lead teams of people and get them to treat each other right and execute for the company. And oh yeah, one likely raised you so that you could be in the position in which you are right now holding someone’s financial destiny in your hands. That’s a lot of power my friend, use it well.