Latest news with #MomsAtWork
CBC
26-06-2025
- General
- CBC
Parents are pressured to give kids an '80s summer. Are we wearing nostalgia blinders?
Social Sharing Call it what you will: '80s kid summer, feral kid summer, old-fashioned kid summer or kid-rotting. However you label it, the internet is rife with posts waxing nostalgic for the unscheduled summers of decades past, when kids spent their days roaming free on bikes, living off Popsicles and figuring out what to do all on their own. "There are only so many childhood summers," warn some articles, as others admonishingly tell parents that boredom creates autonomy and creativity, and remind us that kids deserve unstructured downtime like everyone else. But all these posts can make modern parents feel guilty. They also ignore the reality that in most dual-income or single-parent families, structured child care is necessary. There's also the assumption — and it's not even subtle — that the parent providing the carefree summer in question is the mother, said Allison Venditti, a Toronto-based human resources expert and founder of Moms at Work, an advocacy group for working mothers. "What none of this addresses ... is it requires mental load and planning from women," Venditti told CBC News. "It's the same idea as the magic of Christmas. It isn't magic — it's mothers." Decades ago, this may have looked like the mother staying home with the children and keeping the fridge stocked, co-ordinating with a neighbour to help check in, or letting their children stay home unsupervised simply because they lacked other options. Of course, everyone wants to do the best they can for their kids, Venditti says. But between the rising cost of living and most parents working or looking for work, a carefree summer at home is rarely feasible these days, she added. "Way to make people feel even worse. It's like, 'Oh, you can't pay your mortgage and you can't spend the summer letting your child be free?' That's heavy for people." WATCH | Why dads live longer: Become a dad, live longer 21 days ago Duration 1:01 As more moms work, more kids need child care A lot has changed since the 1980s. There are iPads, every kid has a water bottle at all times and penny candy will cost you a lot more. (Some Canadian kids may have never even seen a penny.) But one of the biggest differences is the number of mothers in the workforce and child-care options. The employment rate for Canadian mothers has nearly doubled since 1976, when 40.5 per cent of mothers worked, compared to 2023, when it climbed to 79.8 per cent, according to Statistics Canada. During the same time period, the employment rate for fathers was almost completely unchanged. Employment rates for moms did start climbing in the '80s, but were still far lower than today. And even as more mothers entered the workforce, there were few formal child-care options, says a publication by the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP). In 1986, there were fewer than 200,000 licensed centre-based child-care spaces across the country, noted the IRPP, compared to seven times that in 2019. And in 1981, the majority of child care was provided by family, extended family, or paid neighbours and non-relatives. Along with dual-income families, the number of working, single mothers has increased, as well, notes the Vanier Institute of the Family in a recent report. All told, these trends have "increased the need for non-parental child-care options," the report says. In 2023, it says, just over half of children under age six were in some form of non-parental child care. In 2022, 40 per cent of Canadian schoolchildren aged four to 12 participated in some form of before- or after-school care, according to Statistics Canada. WATCH | Is parenting harder today? Is parenting harder today than it used to be? 9 months ago Duration 4:06 A public health advisory says today's parents face unique challenges that can impact their mental health. Some parents from older generations say raising children has always been, and always will be, a struggle. Can we really say which generation has had it the worst? Romanticizing boredom Earlier this month, a new term started trending online: kid rotting. The Guardian defines it as "a 2025 way of describing letting your kids do nothing in the summer holidays," and the New York Times calls it "internet parlance for indulgent lounging." "What if, some are daring to wonder, my kid does nothing?" notes the June 8 New York Times article. But as some parents bemoan that now they have to plan their kids' perfect unplanned summer, others online are pointing out that even being able to ponder the option is a privilege. "Working parents don't get to choose between enrichment or free-range boredom. They're juggling jobs and patch-working together child care so their kids are safe, cared for and maybe even — gasp — having fun," wrote U.S. parenting account "Team Camperoni" on TikTok earlier in June. Bryce Reddy, a U.S. therapist and mom of three, wrote on Instagram last month that slow summers sound lovely, but the reality is most parents don't have nine weeks of paid time off to sustain them. "If your summer looks more like 'drop-off, pickup, repeat' than backyard picnics and leisurely 'yes' days, you're not alone," Reddy wrote. "You're doing what you need to do to keep your kids happy, safe, and cared for while you work and that's pretty great." Nostalgia blinders Venditti, the founder of Moms at Work, says she suspects many people have nostalgia blinders on. A lot of the time, '80s summers were about survival, she noted, with parents just trying to keep their kids occupied and safe however they could, with fewer options than today. It also wasn't always ideal, she added, with perhaps a neighbour at the ready with Band-Aids or an older relative telling you to fend for yourself during The Young and the Restless. In 1976, the U.S. Department of Commerce estimated that 13 per cent of its country's children between seven and 13 went without adult supervision before or after school. By the mid-'80s, a wave of research and articles focused on so-called latchkey kids and fears about them developing anxiety, depression or getting into risky behaviours. "Latchkey children face potentially disastrous consequences from being left alone," warned the Washington Post in 1985. From the '60s through to the '90s, it was common for evening newscasts to end with a PSA for parents: "It's 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?" WATCH | A PSA for parents: Today, in Canada, most provinces and territories don't set a minimum age to allow a child to be left home alone, but social services typically advise that no child under age 12 be left home unsupervised, according to 2021 research. Parents have been arrested for letting kids walk alone, and have had child welfare services called for letting their children play unsupervised in their own backyards. "Every mother should scream, 'What do you want from us?'" said Venditti. "You do it this way, it's bad. You do it the other way, it's bad.... The expectations are through the roof."
CTV News
12-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Significant number of Canadian moms who gave birth lost their jobs soon after, new data reveals
Arina Kharlamova was cradling her two-month-old daughter when an email popped into her inbox that disrupted the calm of her maternity leave. The message invited the Whitby, Ont., woman to a meeting where she was told she was part of a layoff affecting 30 per cent of the staff at the company she worked for. 'It felt like a tailspin, honestly,' she recalled. 'It was very, very destabilizing, very difficult to be present and continue just focusing on my baby rather than starting to panic.' Though she didn't know it at the time, Kharlamova was not alone in her experience. A new study funded by advocacy group Moms at Work and law firm Hudson Sinclair found 15 per cent of 1,390 Canadian moms who gave birth in 2022 and 2023 were dismissed, laid off or had their contracts go unrenewed during their pregnancy, maternity leave or when they returned to work. The respondents were surveyed online and reached through social media posts, email blasts and partner organizations, including women's associations across Canada. The overall Canadian workforce has an average involuntary turnover rate of 5.1 per cent, according to 2023 research from consulting firm Mercer. Allison Venditti, Moms at Work's founder, found the gap striking even though she had long suspected there was a connection between motherhood and job loss. She's heard many stories of pregnant women or new moms losing their jobs. Some, like Kharlamova, were terminated as part of a larger group of layoffs because their employer was closing or downsizing, which means they likely would have lost their jobs regardless. However, Venditti suspects that some companies add pregnant women or mothers to broader layoff lists because they're 'out of sight, out of mind' and easy to cut when managers are asked to let go of staff. Others terminate them because they worry parenting will get in the way of work or reduce productivity, she said. When Venditti broached the phenomenon with other people, she says they told her things such as, 'it's not a real problem' or 'anecdotally hearing it from a couple of women doesn't make it true.' Realizing that 'in order to fix the problem, you have to show that it's a problem,' she set off to collect data. At 15 per cent, the findings suggests this group has more than three times the involuntary departure rate as the broader working population. That wound up being 'validating' for Deborah Hudson, a Toronto employment lawyer whose firm co-funded the survey. She's had at least 100 clients, including three in a recent week, draw a link between their pregnancies and their unemployment. Employers cannot lay off workers because they've taken leave but are allowed to terminate employees during their leave if the reason for the cut is entirely unrelated to them being pregnant or giving birth, Hudson said. That means moms on parental leave can legally be laid off if their employer goes out of business, closes one of its divisions or cuts a wide swath of its workforce to cope with mounting costs. But a company can't hire someone to temporarily cover a leave and then terminate the original worker to give the job to their replacement for the long term, Hudson says, because Canadian laws dictate that employees on parental leave must be reinstated to their original position or a comparable role upon their return. In these cases and others, employers are betting their employees won't go to lawyers, she says. Employers that cut staff as a result of their impending or current parental status are often hoping workers won't have the time, energy or funding to fight them, Venditti said. When they do, she said it often ends up in a settlement because no one wants to endure a lengthy and expensive legal process. 'These are women who have been on maternity leave and are often getting 55 per cent (of their wages through employment insurance) who need to go back to work and are, in most instances, not in a financial position to go after their company because they're trying to find daycare and a new job,' she said. While the bulk of Canadian mothers Moms at Work surveyed kept their jobs through pregnancy, 16 per cent were denied flexible work during that time and 11 per cent said they were discouraged from attending prenatal appointments. After giving birth but still on leave, 21 per cent said they were pushed to work while off with their baby and 29 per cent reported feeling pressured to return early. When they were back on the job, 26 per cent reported reduced earnings because they were demoted to lower paying jobs or got fewer bonuses and commissions. Twenty-five per cent were denied promotions and one in six were reassigned 'undesirable duties.' Those numbers suggest to Venditti that 'women are coming back to organizations that are making it very clear that they don't want them there.' 'If they're not pushing you out the door, many places are trying,' she said. Companies should instead think more long-term, said Beth Wanner, a Regina-based marketing executive who started Mother Cover, a firm supporting workers that take leave. She said about a third of parents leave their jobs within 18 months of returning from parental leave. Many make the leap to new companies because they felt unsupported during or after pregnancy at their last employer but would have stuck around if they were afforded more flexible work hours or weren't overlooked for promotions or raises. With companies spending up to 200 per cent of someone's salary to replace employees gone for good and pouring months into training new workers, she said there's not just a moral case but also a business case for them to treat women better during and after their pregnancies. 'This isn't about charity,' she said. 'This isn't about just doing what's right.' It isn't only companies with a role to play. Venditti said there is much the federal government can do as well. Because Canada's current employment insurance program requires recipients to have worked between 420 and 700 hours prior to a leave, when moms lose their jobs during or following pregnancy, they've likely burned through all of or most of their eligibility. She'd like to see income support for mothers not be contingent on hours worked and be more generous than EI, which pays up to 55 per cent of a woman's salary. She envisions those supports could be offered through a program dedicated just for parental leave, rather than the traditional EI system. 'EI was designed as a protection but many, many, many people don't qualify for it anymore,' she said. 'The bottom line is, EI isn't working for most mothers.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025. Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
CBC
12-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
New study sheds light on connection between motherhood and job loss
Arina Kharlamova was cradling her two-month-old daughter when an email popped into her inbox that disrupted the calm of her maternity leave. The message invited the Whitby, Ont., woman to a meeting where she was told she was part of a layoff affecting 30 per cent of the staff at the company she worked for. "It felt like a tailspin, honestly," she recalled. "It was very, very destabilizing, very difficult to be present and continue just focusing on my baby rather than starting to panic." Though she didn't know it at the time, Kharlamova was not alone in her experience. A new study funded by advocacy group Moms at Work and law firm Hudson Sinclair found 15 per cent of 1,390 Canadian moms who gave birth in 2022 and 2023 were dismissed, laid off or had their contracts go unrenewed during their pregnancy, maternity leave or when they returned to work. The respondents were surveyed online and reached through social media posts, email blasts and partner organizations, including women's associations across Canada. The overall Canadian workforce has an average involuntary turnover rate of 5.1 per cent, according to 2023 research from consulting firm Mercer. Allison Venditti, Moms at Work's founder, found the gap striking even though she had long suspected there was a connection between motherhood and job loss. She's heard many stories of pregnant women or new moms losing their jobs. Some, like Kharlamova, were terminated as part of a larger group of layoffs because their employer was closing or downsizing, which means they likely would have lost their jobs regardless. However, Venditti suspects that some companies add pregnant women or mothers to broader layoff lists because they're "out of sight, out of mind" and easy to cut when managers are asked to let go of staff. Others terminate them because they worry parenting will get in the way of work or reduce productivity, she said. Concerns often dismissed When Venditti broached the phenomenon with other people, she says they told her things such as, "it's not a real problem" or "anecdotally hearing it from a couple of women doesn't make it true." Realizing that "in order to fix the problem, you have to show that it's a problem," she set off to collect data. At 15 per cent, the findings suggests this group has more than three times the involuntary departure rate as the broader working population. That wound up being "validating" for Deborah Hudson, a Toronto employment lawyer whose firm co-funded the survey. She's had at least 100 clients, including three in a recent week, draw a link between their pregnancies and their unemployment. Employers cannot lay off workers because they've taken leave but are allowed to terminate employees during their leave if the reason for the cut is entirely unrelated to them being pregnant or giving birth, Hudson said. That means moms on parental leave can legally be laid off if their employer goes out of business, closes one of its divisions or cuts a wide swath of its workforce to cope with mounting costs. But a company can't hire someone to temporarily cover a leave and then terminate the original worker to give the job to their replacement for the long term, Hudson says, because Canadian laws dictate that employees on parental leave must be reinstated to their original position or a comparable role upon their return. In these cases and others, employers are betting their employees won't go to lawyers, she says. Employers that cut staff as a result of their impending or current parental status are often hoping workers won't have the time, energy or funding to fight them, Venditti said. When they do, she said it often ends up in a settlement because no one wants to endure a lengthy and expensive legal process. "These are women who have been on maternity leave and are often getting 55 per cent (of their wages through employment insurance) who need to go back to work and are, in most instances, not in a financial position to go after their company because they're trying to find daycare and a new job," she said. WATCH | Calls to reform EI so those on parental leave qualify: Government pressured to reform EI so those on parental leave qualify 1 year ago Duration 1:55 The NDP is leading a push for reform to Employment Insurance so that people who are laid off while on parental leave, or shortly after returning from it, still qualify for benefits. Critics say the current system discriminates against parents. Lack of flexibility upon return to work also a problem While the bulk of Canadian mothers Moms at Work surveyed kept their jobs through pregnancy, 16 per cent were denied flexible work during that time and 11 per cent said they were discouraged from attending prenatal appointments. After giving birth but still on leave, 21 per cent said they were pushed to work while off with their baby and 29 per cent reported feeling pressured to return early. When they were back on the job, 26 per cent reported reduced earnings because they were demoted to lower paying jobs or got fewer bonuses and commissions. Twenty-five per cent were denied promotions and one in six were reassigned "undesirable duties." Those numbers suggest to Venditti that "women are coming back to organizations that are making it very clear that they don't want them there." "If they're not pushing you out the door, many places are trying," she said. Companies should instead think more long-term, said Beth Wanner, a Regina-based marketing executive who started Mother Cover, a firm supporting workers that take leave. She said about a third of parents leave their jobs within 18 months of returning from parental leave. Many make the leap to new companies because they felt unsupported during or after pregnancy at their last employer but would have stuck around if they were afforded more flexible work hours or weren't overlooked for promotions or raises. With companies spending up to 200 per cent of someone's salary to replace employees gone for good and pouring months into training new workers, she said there's not just a moral case but also a business case for them to treat women better during and after their pregnancies. "This isn't about charity," she said. "This isn't about just doing what's right." It isn't only companies with a role to play. Venditti said there is much the federal government can do as well. Because Canada's current employment insurance program requires recipients to have worked between 420 and 700 hours prior to a leave, when moms lose their jobs during or following pregnancy, they've likely burned through all of or most of their eligibility. She'd like to see income support for mothers not be contingent on hours worked and be more generous than EI, which pays up to 55 per cent of a woman's salary. She envisions those supports could be offered through a program dedicated just for parental leave, rather than the traditional EI system.
CTV News
12-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
‘It felt like a tailspin': New data on mothers who lost jobs during pregnancy
Arina Kharlamova was cradling her two-month-old daughter when an email popped into her inbox that disrupted the calm of her maternity leave. The message invited the Whitby, Ont., woman to a meeting where she was told she was part of a layoff affecting 30 per cent of the staff at the company she worked for. 'It felt like a tailspin, honestly,' she recalled. 'It was very, very destabilizing, very difficult to be present and continue just focusing on my baby rather than starting to panic.' Though she didn't know it at the time, Kharlamova was not alone in her experience. A new study funded by advocacy group Moms at Work and law firm Hudson Sinclair found 15 per cent of 1,390 Canadian moms who gave birth in 2022 and 2023 were dismissed, laid off or had their contracts go unrenewed during their pregnancy, maternity leave or when they returned to work. The respondents were surveyed online and reached through social media posts, email blasts and partner organizations, including women's associations across Canada. The overall Canadian workforce has an average involuntary turnover rate of 5.1 per cent, according to 2023 research from consulting firm Mercer. Allison Venditti, Moms at Work's founder, found the gap striking even though she had long suspected there was a connection between motherhood and job loss. She's heard many stories of pregnant women or new moms losing their jobs. Some, like Kharlamova, were terminated as part of a larger group of layoffs because their employer was closing or downsizing, which means they likely would have lost their jobs regardless. However, Venditti suspects that some companies add pregnant women or mothers to broader layoff lists because they're 'out of sight, out of mind' and easy to cut when managers are asked to let go of staff. Others terminate them because they worry parenting will get in the way of work or reduce productivity, she said. When Venditti broached the phenomenon with other people, she says they told her things such as, 'it's not a real problem' or 'anecdotally hearing it from a couple of women doesn't make it true.' Realizing that 'in order to fix the problem, you have to show that it's a problem,' she set off to collect data. At 15 per cent, the findings suggests this group has more than three times the involuntary departure rate as the broader working population. That wound up being 'validating' for Deborah Hudson, a Toronto employment lawyer whose firm co-funded the survey. She's had at least 100 clients, including three in a recent week, draw a link between their pregnancies and their unemployment. Employers cannot lay off workers because they've taken leave but are allowed to terminate employees during their leave if the reason for the cut is entirely unrelated to them being pregnant or giving birth, Hudson said. That means moms on parental leave can legally be laid off if their employer goes out of business, closes one of its divisions or cuts a wide swath of its workforce to cope with mounting costs. But a company can't hire someone to temporarily cover a leave and then terminate the original worker to give the job to their replacement for the long term, Hudson says, because Canadian laws dictate that employees on parental leave must be reinstated to their original position or a comparable role upon their return. In these cases and others, employers are betting their employees won't go to lawyers, she says. Employers that cut staff as a result of their impending or current parental status are often hoping workers won't have the time, energy or funding to fight them, Venditti said. When they do, she said it often ends up in a settlement because no one wants to endure a lengthy and expensive legal process. 'These are women who have been on maternity leave and are often getting 55 per cent (of their wages through employment insurance) who need to go back to work and are, in most instances, not in a financial position to go after their company because they're trying to find daycare and a new job,' she said. While the bulk of Canadian mothers Moms at Work surveyed kept their jobs through pregnancy, 16 per cent were denied flexible work during that time and 11 per cent said they were discouraged from attending prenatal appointments. After giving birth but still on leave, 21 per cent said they were pushed to work while off with their baby and 29 per cent reported feeling pressured to return early. When they were back on the job, 26 per cent reported reduced earnings because they were demoted to lower paying jobs or got fewer bonuses and commissions. Twenty-five per cent were denied promotions and one in six were reassigned 'undesirable duties.' Those numbers suggest to Venditti that 'women are coming back to organizations that are making it very clear that they don't want them there.' 'If they're not pushing you out the door, many places are trying,' she said. Companies should instead think more long-term, said Beth Wanner, a Regina-based marketing executive who started Mother Cover, a firm supporting workers that take leave. She said about a third of parents leave their jobs within 18 months of returning from parental leave. Many make the leap to new companies because they felt unsupported during or after pregnancy at their last employer but would have stuck around if they were afforded more flexible work hours or weren't overlooked for promotions or raises. With companies spending up to 200 per cent of someone's salary to replace employees gone for good and pouring months into training new workers, she said there's not just a moral case but also a business case for them to treat women better during and after their pregnancies. 'This isn't about charity,' she said. 'This isn't about just doing what's right.' It isn't only companies with a role to play. Venditti said there is much the federal government can do as well. Because Canada's current employment insurance program requires recipients to have worked between 420 and 700 hours prior to a leave, when moms lose their jobs during or following pregnancy, they've likely burned through all of or most of their eligibility. She'd like to see income support for mothers not be contingent on hours worked and be more generous than EI, which pays up to 55 per cent of a woman's salary. She envisions those supports could be offered through a program dedicated just for parental leave, rather than the traditional EI system. 'EI was designed as a protection but many, many, many people don't qualify for it anymore,' she said. 'The bottom line is, EI isn't working for most mothers.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025. Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
