Women may be experiencing turning points in their labor history without even realizing it. As hundreds of thousands of people packed up their desks and walked away from work — voluntarily or involuntarily — amid the dogmatic belief that they were damaging the workplace, some CEOs called A more “masculine” company culture. Now business leaders are calling for women’s careers to be rolled back, while former women Yuan chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg Warning of destructive trends.
“I’m 56, this is my fourth decade in the workplace, and we’re in a particularly troubling moment in terms of women’s speech. You’re in all fields, everywhere,” Sandberg recently toldCNN. “But what I see is that when we make progress, we regress, and when we make progress, we regress.”
“I think this is an important moment to go backwards,” she said.
for a long time Yuan Executives, best-selling authors and billionaires lay out a list of worrying facts and figures. She noted that in the first eight months of 2025, more than 455,000 women Leaving the U.S. Workforce-100,000 men started working during the same period. For women of color, the dilemma is even more acute. Sandberg said the current unemployment rate for black women Maintained at 7.5%significantly higher than the national average 4.4%even greater than the approximate value 3.5% Unemployed white men and women.
Exceed In fact, this alarming phenomenon is hampering women’s careers and economic livelihoods, while also depressing the U.S. economy. Even U.S. companies that snub professional women with the most senior titles are shooting themselves in the foot — Sandberg said companies with 15% or more women in senior management perform better.
“No matter what happens in the zeitgeist as a whole, there’s no reason for companies to write off half the population,” Sandberg continued. “If U.S. women’s labor force participation reached the levels of other rich countries, GDP would grow an additional 4.2 percent, while our economy grows less than 2 percent a year. That’s a lot of room for growth.”
Women’s workforce dilemma: RTOs, diminished opportunities and stereotypes
As hundreds of thousands of women disappear from the payroll this year, experts point to one culprit: employers forcing employees back to the office through strict RTO policies.
Major companies include AmazonJPMorgan Chase, CitigroupDell are all implementing stricter in-person policies in 2025, in large part in response to employee requests. This enterprise trend is leading to some serious staffing consequences. labor force participation rate mother has The share of children under 5 fell from 80% to 77% between January and June 2025, according to an October report KPMG research—Those with bachelor’s degrees have been hit hardest. However, the sharp decline is no coincidence. The exodus of working mothers coincides with an almost doubling of full-time RTO mandates wealth 500 companies.
“Women with young children have been leaving the labor force since late 2023… During the same period, men with young children have increased their participation in the labor force,” KPMGReport notes. “The childcare crisis has put additional pressure on the labor supply. Employers are currently hemorrhaging talent; as a result, the U.S. economy will grow more slowly.”
Working mothers are not the only ones facing an employment crisis. There are an estimated 600,000 black women has been shut out According to analysis by Gender Economists, the labor force has Kartika Roy. During this period, 297,000 people lost their jobs, 75,000 people were squeezed out of the labor force, and 223,000 people remained unemployed. Job growth in the U.S. is slow, and when openings finally become available, competition is fierce — and hiring decisions historically work against them.
But behind the “serious regression” of the female labor force, there are more factors at play besides RTO and reduced employment opportunities. American philanthropist and ex-wife Microsoft Founders Bill Gates, Melinda France Gates, Four ways to arrange Women are held back in corporate America. Working women are forced to make “impossible trade-offs” between caregiving and careers; they are still harassed at work despite the #MeToo movement opening up much-needed discussions about workplace culture; the stereotype that women are “unfit for leadership” has not died; and they have a much harder time raising money for their businesses.
“It’s very concerning to see so many women leaving the workforce, but if you’ve been listening to what women are saying about their careers, it’s not surprising.” Narrated by French Gateswealth October.
“I would like to see more women leading decisions, directing resources and shaping policy at the highest levels of society,” French Gates continued. “This requires us to ensure that they do not face unique barriers in their journey to power.”