Navigating Careers After Maternity Leave: Mothers’ Work Reentry Experiences

By: Tiffany Helton

Narrated by: Mina Fairlow

New mothers returning to work may experience deep-rooted gender roles at home, too. Despite gains in gender equality, women continue to spend more time on unpaid and often invisible labor, such as taking care of the children and managing the household, than men. Inequities at home left unaddressed and unchanged risk unsustainable and competing demands for mothers’ time between work and home, impacting their well-being, relationships, job performance, and ambition.

The purpose of this research was twofold. First, it aimed to gather data that increases awareness of the lived experiences of mothers’ personal and professional challenges when returning to work after maternity leave. Second, it endeavored to create more equitable workplace environments by providing insights (i.e., themes) that can yield personal, leadership,
team, or organizational cultural interventions, helping employers retain and advance women at all levels of the leadership pipeline.

©2025 Tiffany Helton (P)2026 Tiffany Helton

Outstanding CONTENT & DELIVERY

What a wonderful piece of research! Fascinating and well documented by author. .Listening made easier by the even and thoughtful delivery which added dimension to this wonderful work. . A fabulous combination of content and narration! One of the BEST!