Arifa Ibrahim has always seen herself as highly career-focused and never imagined she would voluntarily leave the workforce. However, she faced significant challenges as a working mother in the United States.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported by CNN, Ibrahim is among approximately 455,000 women who exited the workforce between January and August 2025.
In May, Ibrahim resigned from her position as an activity coordinator at a private preschool, where she had been employed for four years. This period included raising her 5-year-old son and having her second son, now 2 years old.
She came to the realization that her earnings barely covered her commuting expenses, the 1,000 monthly daycare costs for her younger son if she enrolled him.
"I don’t think our system supports working mothers right now," Ibrahim, 33, from the Chicago area, told CNBC Make It.
According to new data from Catalyst, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing women in the workplace, caregiving responsibilities, including childcare costs, were the primary reason women left the workforce voluntarily last year.
About 42% of women who quit cited caregiving concerns as their main reason, while nearly 1 in 5 women (17%) mentioned low pay as a contributing factor. The survey included over 200 women who had left the workforce, voluntarily or otherwise, since January 2025.
Sheila Brassel, a director of research at Catalyst, said these findings indicate a regression in women's ability to fully participate in the workforce after making incremental progress. "Women are not opting out. Rather, they’re very literally being torn between their caregiving responsibilities and the rigid way that we continue to do work," Brassel said.
Impact of Reduced Flexible Work Options on Working Mothers
Brassel pointed out that changes in company priorities have played a role. During the early days of the pandemic, organizations were compelled to offer remote work, flexible hours, childcare support, and paid time off for caregiving, which helped many women remain in the workforce and recover some job losses from the Covid era.
However, in recent years, efforts to return to the office and deprioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have threatened "women’s ability to show up in their career as well as balance those caregiving needs," Brassel said.
Ibrahim experienced this firsthand. She initially considered quitting after the birth of her second son but was allowed to work from home after discussing it with her boss (her job was initially 100% in-person). The company also hired an assistant to help with her onsite plans.
This arrangement worked well for about a year, Ibrahim said, until her team increased her responsibilities and required more in-office days.
Catalyst’s findings are consistent with other research from the University of Kansas, which showed that mothers of young children are leaving the workforce at unprecedented rates, and from KPMG, indicating that women are being pushed out due to a lack of childcare support and stricter return-to-office policies.
43% of Women Left Due to Layoffs
Among the women surveyed by Catalyst, 57% reported leaving the workforce voluntarily, while 43% were laid off.
Women of color (53%) were more likely than white women (37%) to report being laid off, according to Catalyst research. This highlights the disproportionate impact of job loss on a demographic more likely to be caregivers, work in the federal sector, and hold front-line roles.
Ayanna Gay found out she was being laid off from her position as an influencer engagement manager at a nonprofit in mid-October while on maternity leave with her daughter, now 6 months old. The nonprofit cut 20% of its staff after losing a significant funder, she said.
Gay, 33, from Sanford, Florida, said her last day with the organization was at the end of November, and she received three months of severance pay. "I’ve looked at the job market, and it’s actually terrible," said Gay, who started looking for a new job in January.
Despite this, she remains "hopeful and optimistic" about finding an employer supportive of working women. As a new mom, Gay prioritizes interviewing with employers that offer remote work and flexible schedules and have "more progressive" policies promoting work-life balance.
"I’d want employers to consider that moms have a very unique grit," Gay added. "I would consider myself to be more focused and intentional with my work and time management because of the new responsibilities I have."
Three Ways Employers Can Improve Support for Working Women
Based on the experiences of women who left the workforce, Brassel from Catalyst said employers can take action on three main objectives to better support and retain working women:
Provide Schedule Flexibility: Allow employees to have flexible working hours or remote work options to better accommodate their caregiving responsibilities.
Provide Resources to Relieve Caregiving Pressures: Offer on-site daycare services or paid days off to help alleviate the burden of childcare.
Conduct Regular Audits for Fair Pay and Career Growth: Ensure that employees are paid fairly and have equal opportunities for career advancement through regular reviews and adjustments.
"Catalyst warned about a year ago about the risks of retreating from equitable workplace practices," Brassel said. Employers that lose "specific and intentional focus" on practices like flexible work and fair pay risk "weakening the systems that in many ways buoy so many folks’ careers, including women’s careers," she said. This also negatively impacts employers, she added: "It has a direct hit to their talent pipeline and their leadership pipeline."