Once upon a time, back when Gina and I were first hatching the idea for The Second Shift, we spoke to everyone we knew about our idea. One of our early meetings was with a very well-known and successful Public Relations strategist who gave us her time and advice. One thing I remember clearly from the meeting is she told us not to use the word “mom” because the perception of the word undervalues the expertise and professionalism of the women in our member community.
I thought of this today when I read an opinion piece in the NYTimes by Hillary Frank, a journalist and creator of the podcast “The Longest Shortest Time” about all things motherhood. In the op-ed she writes that she hit invisible barriers to success because the topic of the stories she tells revolve around mothers and children—and this is on NPR!!
“ I met rejection after rejection…. One guy put it more bluntly: who wants to listen to this except for moms?”
I have been asked if The Second Shift is a company for Betty Drapers who want to work in between rounds of golf. I have been told by a male investor that he can’t envision who are our members are because he would never hire his wife or her friends. What I have found is the minute you bring motherhood into the story the tone changes and you have to start explaining and qualifying when, the truth is, as Gina eloquently explains, “you are not doing them a favor and hiring our members because they are mothers. The only reason they are available for you to hire is because they are mothers.”
Luckily, in the past few years the public conversation about women and parenthood has dramatically changed for the better: increasingly companies are understanding how and why parents need flexibility in their schedules, and parental leave for both genders is becoming more common. Companies like Twitter have 20-week leave for primary caretakers and work with The Second Shift to fill those leaves because statistics show it can improve employee retention rates by 50%. Progressive companies like JP Morgan, American Express, Microsoft and others are offering external childcare partnerships and benefits like IVF reimbursement and career mentorship. Businesses like Babycenter, Hatch and Care.com are proving that motherhood has become a big business. Where there is money there is power and that will ultimately change the “mom” PR problem forever.