Why Maternal Support Should Be Built Into Every DEI Strategy
When organizations discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies, certain dimensions often take center stage: race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability status. Yet one critical element frequently remains overlooked: comprehensive support for maternal wellness. This oversight isn’t just a missed opportunity—it’s a significant gap in truly inclusive workplace cultures.
The numbers tell a concerning story. Labor force participation of mothers with young children dropped from 69.7% to 66.9% between January and June 2025, according to recent workplace studies examining maternal workplace wellness. Meanwhile, men’s participation rate increased to 95.6% during the same period when mothers’ rates declined.
This widening participation gap isn’t happening in a vacuum. It reflects a workplace culture that hasn’t fully embraced the unique needs of working mothers.
The Missing Piece in Workplace Inclusion
Maternal support represents a crucial yet frequently overlooked dimension of workplace inclusion. Despite growing awareness of DEI principles, many organizations fail to recognize how pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood impact women’s career trajectories and workplace experiences.
Women’s workforce participation peaked at 71% in September 2023 but has since declined nearly 3 percentage points, effectively eliminating gains made during the pandemic recovery. This decline happens precisely when women should be advancing—during their prime working years between 25-54, when they represent nearly 30% of the civilian labor force.
What’s driving this troubling trend? The evidence points to several factors: decreased workplace flexibility compared to pandemic-era policies, difficulty finding childcare, and feeling less valued at work. Mothers’ labor force participation only reached pre-pandemic levels in 2023 when childcare center jobs recovered—demonstrating the crucial link between support systems and workforce participation.
Why Maternal Support Is a Core DEI Issue
Maternal support isn’t just a “nice-to-have” benefit—it’s a fundamental DEI issue for several compelling reasons.
First, it addresses gender equity directly. When pregnancy and motherhood become career obstacles rather than integrated parts of professional life, gender equity suffers. The statistics bear this out: mothers with children under six have a 66% labor force participation rate, compared to 78% for mothers of older children. This gap represents thousands of women whose careers are interrupted or derailed during critical advancement years.
Second, maternal support acknowledges a universal experience that cuts across all other identity categories. Women of all races, ethnicities, socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and abilities become mothers. When organizations support maternal wellness, they create inclusive environments that benefit women across multiple identity dimensions.
Finally, proper maternal support recognizes the physical and emotional realities of pregnancy and the early postpartum period. The first six weeks after birth are especially critical for establishing emotional well-being that carries forward into a mother’s return to work. Without appropriate support during this vulnerable time, new mothers face unnecessary challenges that can impact their health, well-being, and professional performance.
The Business Case for Maternal Support in DEI
Incorporating maternal support into DEI strategies isn’t just the right thing to do—it makes business sense. A striking 86% of employers now recognize the ongoing maternal health crisis in America, yet only 39% acknowledge providing enough workplace benefits for maternal and postpartum workers, as highlighted in a maternal wellness in the workplace study.
This gap between recognition and action represents a significant opportunity. Organizations that bridge this gap gain a competitive advantage in three key areas:
- Retention of valuable talent: When companies support women through maternal transitions, they keep experienced professionals engaged and committed. The alternative—losing talented employees due to inadequate support—creates costly turnover and knowledge gaps.
- Enhanced organizational reputation: Companies known for supporting mothers attract not just women of childbearing age but also talent who value inclusive workplaces. As word spreads about supportive cultures, recruitment becomes easier across all demographics.
- Improved productivity and engagement: Working mothers who feel supported during pregnancy and after childbirth experience less stress and can better focus on their work. This translates to higher productivity, stronger team contributions, and more innovative thinking.
Essential Elements of Maternal Support in DEI Strategies
For organizations looking to strengthen their DEI approach through maternal support, several key components deserve attention:
Comprehensive Leave Policies
Truly inclusive organizations go beyond minimum requirements by offering paid parental leave that provides adequate time for physical recovery (typically 6-8 weeks minimum), supports bonding and establishing care routines, and offers flexibility in how leave is structured and used.
Women with higher educational attainment show higher workforce participation (70% for those with bachelor’s degrees versus 34% for those without high school completion), suggesting that organizations hoping to retain highly educated women should offer competitive leave benefits that acknowledge their value.
Flexible Work Arrangements
The pandemic demonstrated that flexibility is possible in many roles. Effective flexible work arrangements might include remote or hybrid options, flexible hours, compressed workweeks, and part-time transitions after leave.
Recent workforce trends confirm this lesson—reduced workplace flexibility compared to pandemic-era policies is a primary factor driving mothers from the workforce. Organizations that maintain flexibility stand to benefit from the continued contributions of working mothers.
Physical Accommodations and Wellness Support
Supporting maternal physical needs requires concrete accommodations: dedicated lactation spaces (beyond legal minimum requirements), ergonomic considerations during pregnancy, travel policies that accommodate pregnancy and nursing, and access to maternal health resources and education.
These accommodations acknowledge the physical realities of pregnancy and postpartum recovery, creating environments where women don’t have to choose between their physical well-being and professional responsibilities.
Mental Health Support
As noted by maternal health workplace leadership research, feeling valued at work is a critical factor in mothers’ decisions to stay in the workforce. Organizations should provide access to mental health resources focused on maternal well-being, manager training on supporting employees through maternal transitions, and recognition of the emotional challenges during pregnancy and postpartum periods.
Implementing Maternal Support in Your DEI Strategy
To effectively incorporate maternal support into existing DEI frameworks, organizations should follow a structured approach:
Start with a current state assessment by evaluating existing policies, practices, and employee experiences. This should include reviewing leave utilization and return-to-work retention, gathering employee feedback specifically from those who have navigated pregnancy/parenthood, and benchmarking against industry standards and best practices.
Next, develop clear policies and communication channels. Ensure that maternal support offerings are clearly documented, train managers on implementation, and regularly communicate available resources to all employees—not just those currently pregnant or planning for pregnancy.
Fostering a supportive culture is equally important. Policies alone won’t create meaningful change without cultural support that celebrates and normalizes pregnancy and motherhood, provides visible leadership endorsement, creates parent-focused employee resource groups, and addresses bias in performance evaluation and promotion processes.
Finally, measure impact and adjust as needed by tracking key metrics such as retention rates of employees who become parents, promotion rates for working mothers, employee engagement and satisfaction scores, and utilization rates of available support resources.
Moving Forward: Maternal Support as DEI Innovation
As organizations continue to evolve their DEI strategies, maternal support represents an opportunity for meaningful innovation. The companies leading in this space recognize that supporting mothers isn’t just about accommodating needs—it’s about creating environments where women can thrive professionally while navigating one of life’s most significant transitions.
The current statistics paint a clear picture: we’re losing valuable talent because workplaces haven’t fully integrated maternal support into their core operations and culture. By reimagining maternal support as a central component of DEI strategy rather than a peripheral benefit, organizations can create more inclusive environments while gaining significant competitive advantages in talent attraction and retention.
For women navigating the challenges of working motherhood, the message is equally important: your workplace should support your full identity, including your role as a mother. This isn’t special treatment—it’s a fundamental aspect of true workplace inclusion.
By elevating maternal support from a compliance issue to a strategic priority, organizations can build DEI approaches that truly support women through all life stages, creating workplaces where diversity is genuinely valued in all its dimensions.