How Remote Work Changed Working Moms

Commentary

A funny thing happened as people, particularly mothers, started to return to the office after years of COVID-19 pandemic-related remote work.

As reported in The Washington Post, a significant number of moms who had been working remotely decided that they would rather stay home.

According to Misty Heggeness, professor at the University of Kansas and a former principal economist at the Census Bureau, in January 2025, 70 percent of mothers aged 25 to 44 with young children were working outside the home. In just six months, that percentage dropped to 67 percent.

In addition, Motherly’s 2023 State of Motherhood Report found that 25 percent of parents surveyed stayed at home with their children, compared with 15 percent in 2022. The report stated that 18 percent of mothers in the sample had changed jobs or left the workforce during the past year, and the top reason cited (28 percent) was to stay at home with children.

Why the change? With the COVID-19 pandemic over and people being ordered back into the office, a number of women who were working remotely have realized that they would rather be at home, or have found that caregiving—particularly for children and elderly parents—makes it too difficult to work full-time outside the house.

Of course, some reports choose to point to the usual leftist arguments: federal budget cuts and the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, for instance. But buried within The Washington Post piece are the words of one mother in her late 30s who expressed a different opinion.

“I worked hard, I had a great career, we were both making great money,” she said, according to The Washington Post. “But I was working so much, there were weeks when I saw my kids for maybe 30 minutes a day. Finally, it was like, ‘Let’s slow down so I can be a present mother.’ … Now I choose to give my best energy to my kids while they’re little.”

While it is wonderful that women today have opportunities that they did not have 50 or 60 years ago, there is still something about being able to be home with one’s children, especially during the early years.

The actress Mary Tyler Moore, who was heralded by the feminist movement for playing a character who seemingly could have it all, came to the tragic conclusion after the death of her son, Richie, that perhaps it was better for moms to spend more time with their children than to chase the golden ring of career success.

In her book “After All,” she lamented: “There is no question about it. By the time Richie was 5, I had already let him down. When he needed me the most, I was busier and even more self-concerned than I had been when he was an impressionable infant.”

Much to the dismay of those who heralded Moore’s independent character, she said later in life how important she believed it was for a mother to be home and involved in her children’s lives during their formative years.

Many women such as Moore have come to the realization that despite the intoxication of money and career success, there are other things that are ultimately more important: to love and nurture their children, to be the emotional backbone of their families, and to enjoy motherhood without the regret of missing these years and experiences that they can never get back.

And mothers are not the only ones who benefit. More important are the benefits to the children, who get to spend more time with a parent who is either working remotely or not at all. The main thing is that remote work, or not working at all, allows a parent to be present in the children’s lives rather than drop them off with a dispassionate child care worker each day as if they were clothes being dropped off at the cleaners to be picked up later.

That is why I am so deeply encouraged by the number of mothers who are coming to this realization and are willing to make financial and career sacrifices to invest in their children. By making that investment, they realize that they are gaining benefits as well: the benefits of moments and memories that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.