The Invisible Workforce: Why Return from Parental Leave Must Be Redefined
On paper, she’s employed. In practice, she’s invisible.
This is the third of five insights drawn from the Australian Institute of Family Studies research on how caregiving shapes workforce participation—and what needs to change if we’re serious about closing the gender pay gap.
Here’s the data that rarely makes headlines: 👇
🍼 In 2021, 32% of partnered mothers with an infant were technically employed but worked zero hours—usually because they were on parental leave.
📉 In 1991, that number was just 5%.
That’s a 6x increase in women whose careers are paused—but perhaps not supported.
And that pause has consequences.
Many return to:
• Roles with less stretch
• Fewer career conversations
• Derailed pathways to leadership
This isn’t about “time off.”
It’s about the lack of structured pathways back.
Here’s What Needs to Change:
👉 Re-entry isn’t administrative. It’s emotional and strategic.
Confidence dips. Networks fade. Ambition stalls—unless we actively restore them.
👉 Leave isn’t the problem. The silence around it is.
Too few women hear from their managers, mentors, or peers while they’re away.
👉 One-size-fits-none doesn’t work.
Every carer’s return is different. And our systems need to reflect that.
The Strategic Playbook for Leaders:
✅ Before Leave: Set a re-entry date, discuss aspirations, and agree on check-in cadence
✅ During Leave: Offer optional access to team updates, events, or stretch opportunities
✅ On Return: Phase hours, assign a mentor, and host a “career recommitment” conversation
✅ Beyond: Track progress post-return and sponsor high performers to mid-level and above
📘 In Closing the Gender Pay Gap, I call this the “career re-entry inflection point.” It’s one of the most powerful and underused levers for closing leadership gaps.
If you don’t design the path forward, don’t be surprised when talented women don’t come back—or come back and leave again.
📩 Message me if you’d like a copy of the whitepaper.
What’s one practical thing your workplace could start doing to better support returning carers?
A former Board Member, CPO, and 2022 HR Leader of the Year, Anoop creates the space for C-suite leaders to turn complexity into clarity and strategy into action.