How To Support Women in the Workplace

Let’s look at a few of the challenges that impact women’s ability to thrive at work.

Caregiving.

Women continue to shoulder the majority of caregiving responsibilities, whether for child care or elder care. Economist Matthew Nestler notes that in March 2025, women made up 87% of the 1.4 million workers who either worked part-time or missed work entirely due to child care problems.¹

The majority of elder caregivers (59%) are women² and it’s estimated that they spend a whopping 50 hours per week on caregiving.³ Women also make up 60% of those caring for family members with Alzheimer’s and dementia, two conditions that are becoming more common and place high demands on women’s time.⁴

Health concerns.

Women’s health is complex. Childbearing, perimenopause and menopause can span years, if not decades, in a working woman’s life, impacting her ability to be present and productive. Women also experience a range of gender-specific health concerns—such as menstruation, menopause or fertility issues; autoimmune disorders; and endometriosis (to name just a few)—that can affect their performance at work.

Financial wellness.

Women face numerous financial challenges over the course of their lives including:

• The caregiving burden that causes them to miss work, take breaks from employment, or leave the workforce altogether.
• The “motherhood penalty,” a term that describes the effect of career interruptions and missed opportunities for career advancement during the childbearing years, resulting in overall lower lifetime earnings.
• The gender wage gap, in which women earn approximately 85 cents for every dollar earned by men⁵—leading to lower lifetime earnings, reduced retirement contributions and smaller Social Security checks.

Mental health.

Given the challenges described above, it’s no wonder mothers and young women are in a mental health crisis. JAMA Network recently reported that between 2016 and 2023, mental health significantly declined among mothers in the U.S. Those who describe their mental health as “excellent” decreased by over 12%. Fathers also experienced declines, but prevalence was consistently worse among mothers.⁶

Younger female workers are also suffering from poor mental health: just 15% of women aged 18-29 polled from 2020 to 2024 said they have excellent mental health, compared to 48% of women this age saying the same in 2010-2014.⁷ A study recently conducted by WebMD Health Services Center for Research also finds a 21% difference in mental health between female and male respondents aged ​18–29.⁸ Early career pressures and the onset of caregiving responsibilities may account for the difference in male and female mental health.

Not surprisingly, McKinsey found “women are even more burned out now than they were a year ago, and burnout is escalating much faster among women than among men.”

The upshot: women feel less cared for by their organizations.

Given these challenges, how are women feeling about the level of support they receive from their employers?  Not good. According to WebMD Health Service’s 2025 Workplace and Employee Survey, females in the 30-44 age group feel 11% less cared for than men.⁹ As we noted in the mental health section above, life stage and career demand likely play a role in this finding. Women in this age group are balancing caregiving at home with growing demands at work. On top of that, it’s a time of major physical, emotional, and mental change—all happening at once.

How your organization can better support and care for women in the workplace.

There’s certainly no easy fix to the challenges that working women face. But, a combination of support for women’s health and wellness and a reexamination of workplace policies can help. Here are some ideas to consider.

Listen.

Survey women in your organization to understand the challenges that affect their health and productivity. Probe to find out what type of support they are interested in having from the organization.

Reexamine health care benefits.

Conduct a review of health care benefits to ensure they are meeting women’s specific needs across the lifespan. In addition to coverage that supports women’s sexual health and reproduction, add new coverage to support the menopausal years. This could include Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), physical therapy for pelvic floor issues, and access to specialists in menopausal care, such as functional medicine providers and endocrinologists.

Provide regular education and communication on women’s health.

Often, a barrier to women taking advantage of health offerings is lack of awareness. Ensure female employees understand the physical and mental health coverage they are eligible for and how to access their benefits. Provide education on menopause and the support you offer. Sponsor a regular series of women’s health events, lectures and webinars. Explore this post for more information on how to improve women’s well-being in the workplace.

Boost child care/elder care support.

Finding quality, reliable daycare for children is a challenge—not to mention a huge expense for parents. Employers can make it easier by providing child care benefits like:

• Onsite child care.
• Child care subsidies.
• Back-up care for the times when regular child care falls through, or a child is unwell and not able to attend daycare or school

Caregiving doesn’t stop when children attend school, so make sure to also offer care for when school isn’t in session, tutoring services, college prep help and support for teen mental health. Also, consider elder care referral services offered by an EAP, back-up elder care and help navigating elder care benefits and Medicare. 

One interesting idea is to tailor child care benefits for different employee segments, such as parents with children younger than five, parents with school-age children, or people caring for elderly and chronically ill persons.

Expand caregiving leave policies.

Offering paid time off for both parents to bond with a child during that all-important first year can lead to greater retention of women, a more equal distribution of child care in the family, and better mental health for both parents.

Caring for an aging parent is the third most common reason for employee leaves.¹⁰ So, in addition to generous maternity, paternity and parental leave, consider adding leaves that allow women to take time off to care for any family member. Also, consider adjustments to leave policies to allow for menopause-related paid leave or additional sick days.

Also, remember to take an honest look at your company culture. It should value caregiving as an important part of life—not something that needs to be “balanced” with work. Ensure your culture supports the actual taking of leave, for both moms and dads.

Offer robust mental health care benefits.

Mental health benefits, such as counseling through an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), can alleviate the stress of caregiving and menopause and offer support for common symptoms like depression and anxiety. Offer multiple modalities that allow women to access support in the most convenient way for them—via text/app, in-person or phone. Visit our workplace mental health resource center for additional ideas.

Explore flexible work options.

With nearly 77% of women participating in the workforce, the standard nine-to-five, 40-hour workweek may present a challenge for parents who need flexibility to support caregiving or health needs—particularly women. While not all types of workplaces can offer flexibility, those that can should consider:

• Alternative schedules that allow a later start or early departure to better align with the school day.
• Hybrid or remote work. One note of caution: women may be more inclined to take advantage of remote work, so it’s critical to ensure they are treated the same as in-office workers regarding promotions, work assignments, compensation, and exposure to senior leaders.
• Four-day workweeks. Some organizations have recently piloted experiments with this way of working, so it’s a great time to test and see if it works for your company as well.
• Job-sharing roles that split the workweek between two people.
• Time for well-being activities during the workday. Don’t force women (and men!) to squeeze stress-reduction activities into their already limited free time. Increase engagement by allowing time in the day to do something of their choice, such as exercising, meditating, reading a book or calling a friend.

Ensure return-to-work support for new mothers.

Supporting new mothers (and dads) as they return to work is critical. Some helpful programs include:

• Phased re-entry to work. Staging a return to work with an increasing number of days worked each week can offer a sleep-deprived new mom a gentler reintroduction and increase retention.
• Breastfeeding support. Offer dedicated spaces where breastfeeding moms can pump, and milk shipping services that allow breastfeeding women to ship milk back home when they must travel for work. Women must also feel comfortable and supported taking time away from their job to pump breast milk.
• Maternal health programs. Education is typically focused on the gestational part of pregnancy, but the post-partum experience is important, too, especially for warding off common conditions like post-partum depression. Check with your health plan or EAP vendors to see if they offer special support for post-partum women.

Help with finances.

Women need financial wellness support that focuses on their unique situation. Connect female employees with mentors and financial planners who understand the specific needs of women. Provide workshops and classes that focus on financial literacy and building financial confidence (particularly for younger women).

Access to basic financial skills and education, such as budgeting, establishing an emergency fund, and paying off debt can help. In addition, subsidized child care and more parental leave can prevent women from leaving the workforce and suffering further financial setbacks.

Make sure leadership is supportive.

Active and visible leadership support is a huge factor in reducing stress on the job for women. Unless leaders themselves model flexible work practices, talk about their own well-being practices and how they take care of their mental health, and set boundaries for work and life, women will not feel they have permission to do so in their own lives. It’s also important to train managers to recognize the signs of burnout and teach them how to have supportive conversations with women about workload and stress. Be sure to frame this support as a business issue that needs attention, just like stress and burnout for the larger population.

Create a community for women in the workplace.

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are an excellent way to create a support system for women across all life stages. Many organizations have created menopause, caregiving and parenting ERGs. In addition to support and advocating for better policies and benefits, they help to raise awareness of and normalize the unique issues women face among all employees. Also, consider mentor programs that pair women with more senior female leaders as well as groups on workplace social media and Slack channels where women can connect.

Offer support for reproductive health care.

Increasingly, women want to work for companies that will support them with family building, including fertility assistance, and adoption and surrogacy reimbursement. This is particularly important to the largest sector of the workforce, millennials, who are now in their childbearing years, as well as those in same-sex relationships. They are also looking for medical plans that support women’s reproductive health, including coverage for pregnancy, childbirth, and post-partum care without the high deductibles, co-pays, or out-of-pocket costs that some health plans feature. And, with the constitutional right to obtain an abortion eliminated, employers may look to add benefits to reimburse women who must travel out-of-state to receive care.

The benefits of supporting women in the workplace.

Supporting women in the workplace isn’t just a nice-to-do. It’s a business imperative. When organizations address the unique needs of women in the workplace, they enjoy:

• Better overall well-being and lower health care costs for women of all ages.
• A multi-generational female workforce and greater retention of senior female leaders.
• Improved engagement and work satisfaction.
• Reduced absenteeism and presenteeism.
• Increased productivity.
• Heightened creativity and innovation, women and men bring a diversity of opinions and perspectives to the workplace.
• An enhanced reputation as a great place to work.

To learn more about how WebMD Health Services can help your organization develop a women’s wellness workplace strategy request a demo. And for more tips on how to support women’s well-being in the workplace, check out our women’s health hub.