Arifa Ibrahim says she has always considered herself “career-oriented” and never thought she would quit her job voluntarily. Then she faced the challenges of being a working mother in the United States.
Ibrahim is one of about 455,000 women who left their jobs between January and August 2025, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and a CNN report.
In May, Ibrahim quit her job as an activities coordinator at a private kindergarten, where she had worked for four years, including after giving birth to her second son, now two years old, while raising her five-year-old son.
She realized that the money she earned from her job could cover her gas costs for commuting, her oldest son’s $400 monthly preschool tuition (which she says is a discounted rate for employees), and the estimated $1,000 monthly cost of child care if she enrolled her second son.
“I don’t think our system supports working mothers right now,” Ibrahim, 33, who lives in the Chicago area, told CNBC Make It.
New data from Catalyst, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering women in the workplace, shows that caregiving responsibilities, including childcare costs, were the biggest factor in women leaving their jobs voluntarily last year.
Approximately 42% of women who left their jobs cited caregiving concerns as their top reason, followed by almost one in five women (17%) reporting low pay as a factor for leaving. The survey included more than 200 women who left their workplaces, voluntarily or involuntarily, from January 2025 onwards.
Sheila Brussel, director of research at Catalyst, said the findings mark a “backslide in women’s full participation” in the workforce after gradual progress. “Women are not opting out. Rather, they are literally torn between their caregiving responsibilities and the rigid ways in which we continue to work.”
Flexible work rollback hits working mothers hard
Brassell says changing corporate priorities are at play. She points to the early days of the pandemic when organizations were forced to offer remote work, flextime, child care assistance and paid leave for family care, which helped many women stay in the workplace and later regain some of the jobs lost during the pandemic.
But in recent years, efforts to return to public service and deprioritize DEI efforts have threatened “women’s ability to participate in their careers and balance their caregiving needs,” Brassell said.
Ibrahim knows this firsthand. After her second son was born, she initially considered quitting, but after a discussion with her boss, she was allowed to work from home (her work was initially 100% in-person) and the company hired an assistant to help her implement the on-site plan.
Things went well for about a year, Ibrahim said, until the team increased her responsibilities and tenure.
Catalyst’s findings are consistent with other research from the University of Kansas that found mothers with young children are leaving the workforce at historic rates, and other research from KPMG that showed women are being pushed out by a lack of childcare support and strict return-to-work policies.
43% of women left the workplace due to layoffs
Among women surveyed by Catalyst, 57% reported voluntarily quitting their job, and 43% said they had been fired.
Catalyst’s research found that women of color (53%) were more likely than white women (37%) to report being laid off, highlighting the impact of job loss on caregivers, federal employees, and those more likely to work in front-line roles.
In mid-October, Ayanna Gay was on maternity leave with her now 6-month-old daughter when she learned she was being laid off from her job as an influencer engagement manager at a nonprofit organization. She said the nonprofit cut 20% of its staff after losing a major donor.
Gay, 33, of Sanford, Fla., said his last day with the organization was at the end of November and he received three months’ severance pay. “I looked at the job market and it was really bad,” said Gay, who started looking for a new job in January.
That said, she says she is “hopeful and optimistic” about finding employers who support working women. Gay, a new mom, said she prioritizes interviews with “more progressive” employers that offer remote work, flexible schedules, and policies that encourage work-life balance.
“I want employers to consider that mothers have a unique spirit,” Gay added. “Now that I have new responsibilities, I think I can be more focused and intentional with my work and time management.”
3 ways employers can step up
Based on the experiences reported by women who have left the workforce, Catalyst’s Brassell says employers can take action towards three main goals to better support and retain women in the workforce:
Provide schedule flexibility Provide resources to ease the pressures of caregiving, such as on-site day care and paid time off Conduct regular audits to ensure fair pay and career growth
“About a year ago, Catalyst warned of the risk of a retreat from fair practices in the workplace,” Brussell said. If employers lose their “specific and intentional focus” on these practices, such as flexible working and fair pay, they risk “undermining the systems that in many ways underpin the careers of so many people, including the careers of women,” she says. It also has a negative impact on employers, “directly hitting the talent pipeline and the leadership pipeline,” she added.
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