This past year of living in the “Age of Corona,” has been next-level H.A.R.D. especially for parents.
Many of us had to pivot, literally overnight, as schools and daycares across the country closed.
It’s been a year of juggling working from home, zoom meetings, virtual schooling, quarantine, social distancing, our kids being home ALL.THE.TIME, endless requests for snacks, and more, all while still maintaining the regularly scheduled program called “adulting.”
It’s been neverending days of attempting to balance our full-time careers with full-time responsibilities at home.
It’s been trying to do our jobs while simultaneously teaching our kids the hell that is common core math.
So yeah, it’s been A LOT.
And if everyone is still alive and not in need of extensive therapy at this point? Bonus points to you.
Look, this year has been beyond challenging and the fact that we have managed to keep it together and keep our worlds turning is a testament to just how strong and capable we really are.
Which is exactly what one mom wants potential employers to recognize.
Megan Drye Harper, head of product growth for Tiny Beans and a mother of three, recently updated her résumé to include her accomplishments over the past year and what she wrote is empowering.
(And proves just how badass moms really are.)
She shared what she wrote on her Instagram page, girlgonechildinthecity:
“I recently updated my resume to include my achievements in the last year and last line read,
“I achieved all of this while homeschooling a Kindergartener, keeping a three year old entertained and nursing a baby between Zoom calls in my NYC apartment. Now, as we head back into a normal existence with childcare, imagine what I can do for your company in 2021.”
BOOM.
And also, someone please give this woman a job. Because, quite frankly, she should be hired based on these two sentences alone.
She wrote the post after a mom in one of the mom tech/start-up Facebook groups she is a part of asked “if they should tell the potential employer they’re interviewing with that they’re a mom.”
Clearly, Megan thinks so.
In the caption to her post she wrote:
“Being a mom is a strength in the workplace not a weakness!”
And all we can say is “A-freaking-men.”
What Megan accomplished is no small feat.
On top of her “regular life” as a working mom, she also took on the added tasks of homeschooling and taking care of her 3-year-old and baby ALL AT THE SAME TIME.
She was literally breastfeeding between zoom calls.
I imagine she also threw in a few loads of laundry, washed some dishes, and did a grocery order while she was at it.
And she isn’t the only one. Millions of moms have also had similar experiences. Taking on multiple roles and responsibilities as we navigate life during Covid.
While many dads have stepped up in the area of domestic duties, the brunt of the pandemic has still laid squarely on moms’ shoulders.
Moms are disproportionately burdened with child care, housework, and homeschooling.
A survey conducted by Flex Jobs found that:
- 63% of working mothers report they primarily handled childcare duties, while 42% of working fathers reported the same.
- 80% of working mothers said they took the lead on remote learning versus 31% of working fathers.
Moms are masters at organization, negotiation, leadership, and time management skills. We multitask daily, like the bosses we are. We get shit done. Even in the midst of a global pandemic that has significantly increased our physical and mental loads.
We are an asset, not a liability.
And yet, unfortunately, many employers would disagree, particularly when it comes to stay-at-home moms who are trying to re-enter the workforce.
One study found that stay-at-home moms are half as likely to get a job interview than parents who have been laid off.
Additionally, employers said they viewed stay-at-home moms as less reliable, less deserving, and less committed to work. Ouch.
Stay-at-home moms are sorely undervalued in this country.
But some companies are finally trying to rewrite the narrative around stay-at-home parents.
LinkedIn just added stay-at-home moms and stay-at-home dads as job titles. Yes, JOB TITLES.
Bef Ayenew, LinkedIn’s engineering director, said the new titles “allow full-time parents and caretakers to more accurately display their roles.”
And it’s about time.
Users can now choose a stay-at-home job description, set the employment type field to “self-employed,” and will no longer need to specify a company or employer in their profile.
At least it feels like a step in the right direction.
Whether or not employers start to sit up and take notice of just how much moms have to offer is yet to be seen.
But whether they do or don’t, it doesn’t change the reality, moms are freaking superheroes. Full stop.