Parental Leave Penalty? 15% of Women Face Career Setbacks After Maternity Leave

The pace of change in the world today seems faster than ever. The pandemic, technological innovation and political upheaval mean the world today is very different to how it was at the turn of the millennium. Yet alongside such rapid change, issues remain around gender parity in the workplace. The gender pay gap has crept down since 2000, from 26% to 18%, but the gap has not been fully closed.

So, after a quarter-century of International Women’s Days in the 2000s, what progress has been made in reaching gender parity, and what does the future hold for women’s experiences in the workplace? Jobseeker conducted an online survey of 1,000 US workers to find out. The study asked respondents about their real life experiences in the workplace, and how pay, promotions and policy shape the working lives of both men and women. This article provides a detailed review of the workplace gender equality state of play, with discussion for HR professionals and employers seeking to address the issue.

Enduring biases perpetuate an unlevel playing field

While the gender pay gap has reduced in the last quarter-century, enduring differences remain between the experiences of men and women in the workplace. Some of the key findings from Jobseeker’s study explore career progression and the impact of workplace culture in shaping the experiences of both men and women:

Promotion and career progression

When it comes to career progression, there were clear differences between the lived experience of men and women, with women more likely to feel they’ve been disadvantaged, either in the hiring process or for promotion:

• 35% of women have suspected they were not hired for a job because of their gender, compared to just 16% of men.
• 40% of all respondents believe men benefit the most from promotion policies, compared to just 8% who feel women are the main beneficiaries.
• In line with beliefs around hiring and promotion, almost one-third of women (29%) believe their career progress has been delayed due to their gender, compared to just 10% of men.
• 15% of women believe they’ve been passed over for promotion owing to caregiving responsibilities, roughly double the proportion of males (8%).

Lack of Women in Leadership Roles

Despite some progress in gender equality, leadership roles remain largely male-dominated. A Jobseeker survey revealed that nearly half (47%) of respondents described the management and executive teams in their workplaces as male-dominated, while only 17% reported a female-dominated leadership structure. In contrast, 31% indicated that gender balance was approximately equal, and 4% were uncertain.

These figures highlight a significant imbalance at the top, reinforcing the barriers women face in advancing to senior roles. 

Beyond the numbers, workplace expectations often reinforce these inequalities. One respondent described how gendered assumptions about administrative skills limit leadership opportunities for women:

"In my experience, women are expected to excel administratively. Any lapses in this area are perceived as lapses in competence. Men are not held to the same standard with regard to organization and clerical skills. Because women are expected to excel in this area, they are assigned more clerical administrative tasks, which interfere with their assignments and other leadership responsibilities. Since women do not have as much space to demonstrate leadership, this then affects promotions."

This highlights a critical but often overlooked issue: task assignment bias. Women frequently take on administrative duties that, while essential, do not contribute to leadership readiness. Over time, this erodes their ability to gain strategic experience, making them less likely to be considered for promotions.

What can employers and HR leaders do?

1. Take a good look at how tasks and admin duties are distributed in your team

• Track who is assigned administrative vs. strategic tasks.
• Rotate admin tasks (e.g., scheduling, note-taking) to avoid defaulting to women.

2. Ensure equal access to leadership-building opportunities

• Rotate high-impact responsibilities (e.g., leading client presentations, managing key projects) just as fairly as admin tasks to prepare all employees for leadership roles.
• Implement structured leadership development programs that proactively support women in gaining the experience needed for career progression.

3. Train managers to prevent task bias

• Provide bias-awareness training on fair task distribution.
• Track who gets assigned high-visibility projects; giving women equal access to strategic assignments.
• Set department goals to increase women’s access to leadership-developing work.

By addressing task assignment bias, companies can dismantle hidden barriers to women’s career advancement and ensure that leadership opportunities are based on strategic contributions rather than outdated workplace expectations.

Workplace culture

Alongside difficulties in career progression related to gender, there are various cultural factors of the workplace experience that differ between men and women. The impact of these can be just as significant to a sense of job satisfaction, as elements related to career progression:

• 24% of female employees feel they’ve been a victim of gender discrimination or bias, compared to 9% of men.
• 18% of women have experienced pay inequity when compared to their male colleagues.
• A significantly higher proportion of women than men reported feeling judged, either occasionally or often, for showing emotions at work (67% vs. 39%).
• Women were more likely to receive inappropriate comments at work about their gender than men (47% vs 22%).
• Half of women (51%) have experienced inappropriate comments about their appearance, compared to just 31% of men.
• Almost a quarter of women have experienced exclusion or bias from industry networking, compared to just 1 in 10 men (23% vs. 11%).

These statistics reveal how workplace culture can quietly reinforce inequality, limiting women’s access to career opportunities and leadership roles. One respondent shared their personal experience:

"I was looked over for a promotion that I deserved because I did not go drink with the male supervisors."

This example highlights a widespread but often unspoken issue: informal socializing—such as after-hours drinks, golf outings, and private networking circles—can reinforce exclusionary career advantages for men. When professional advancement depends on social access rather than merit, it creates barriers for women who are not part of these informal networks.

What can employers and HR leaders do?

1. Diversify networking and team bonding activities

• Offer multiple networking formats beyond after-hours drinks (e.g., mentorship programs, structured leadership lunches, or skill-sharing sessions).
• Ensure inclusion in decision-making spaces so that career advancement is based on contributions, not after-work socializing.

2. Train leaders to recognize and address exclusionary practices

• Conduct training sessions for managers on how informal networks influence promotions and how to foster inclusive leadership pipelines.
• Track promotion trends to identify whether social factors (rather than performance metrics) are influencing advancement decisions.

By creating structured leadership pathways, broadening networking opportunities, and training managers to mitigate exclusion, companies can ensure career advancement is based on talent—not social connections.

Salaries

Jobseeker’s study supports the data that suggests the gender pay gap is still a very real phenomenon. While salaries around the middle income ranges were fairly consistent between men and women, it’s at the extremes that the differences are most notable:

• 20% of women reported earning less than $30,000, compared with 15% of men.
• 25% of men earned more than $100,000, a figure achieved by only 17% of female employees.
• Within the US, the Northeast shows the highest gender pay gap, with more than double the proportion of men earning more than $100,000, compared to women (32% vs. 14%). 
• A third of women (33%) reported being paid less than a colleague of the opposite gender for the same role, compared to only 10% of men.

These statistics reflect actual workplace experiences, and here we see a very real example:

"When I was promoted to manager, I was making at least $40K less than my male colleague. I was offered another job at a significant increase and gave my two weeks’ notice with my current employer. It was at that point they matched the offer and added stock options. They told me they had discussed a salary adjustment, but unfortunately, it wasn't until I had another job offer that they were forced to counteroffer. I ended up staying with the company, and it was the right decision."

This example exposes a common but problematic trend: Companies often acknowledge pay disparities only when an employee is about to leave. Instead of proactively ensuring pay equity, many businesses wait until external pressure forces them to act—leaving women systematically underpaid unless they negotiate aggressively.

When asked about the key factors contributing to the gender pay gap, there were some differences in opinion by gender, but there were also several points of agreement:

• Women were more likely to believe they negotiate their salary less often (31% vs. 17% of men).
• 38% of women believed they were perceived as less committed due to caregiving roles, compared to 23% of men believing this to be an issue for women.
• Around 3 in 10 of both male and female respondents believed there to be a bias in performance evaluations.
• Almost a third of all respondents highlighted a lack of transparency in salaries as a possible reason for the gender pay gap.

What can employers and HR leaders do?

1. Be proactive and take the first step

• Don’t wait for employees to leave—perform annual pay audits to identify gender disparities and make necessary salary adjustments.
• Ensure new hires and internal promotions are paid equitably by benchmarking salaries before making offers.

2. Set transparent salary ranges with measurable criteria

• Publish salary bands for all roles to prevent hidden wage gaps.
• Require managers to justify pay differences based on clear, measurable criteria, not informal negotiations.

3. Encourage salary negotiation for women

• Offer salary negotiation workshops and ensure HR policies support proactive raises, not just reactive counteroffers.
• Train hiring managers to avoid lowballing offers based on past salaries, which perpetuates pay gaps.

By proactively addressing pay inequities, companies can foster a fairer, more equitable workplace and retain top talent.

Parental and caregiving leave risks disrupting women's careers

Although parental leave in the US has been gender-neutral since the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), underlying differences in the attitudes and experiences of parental leave still exist between men and women. Jobseeker’s study highlights obstacles related to paternity and maternity leaves as one of the key challenges for employers to overcome in the search for greater equality in the workplace experience.

Taking parental leave

When it comes to taking parental leave, women are still more likely than men to take advantage of the policy, while those women who take it, tend to take significantly longer than their male counterparts. Some of the differences between men and women in their use of parental leave include:

• 30% of women have taken fully paid parental leave, compared to 23% of men.
• Women were more likely to take unpaid leave to care for children or family members than men (22% vs. 14%).
• Two-thirds of men who took parental leave took less than a month off (65%), while 47% of women took between one and three months.
• 10% of women took six months or more off work for parental leave, compared to just 2% of men.
• The length of parental leave differs by seniority level. 43% of entry-level women take less than one month’s leave, compared to only 20% of senior women.
• Women in executive and leadership positions tend to take less time off than women in mid- or senior-level positions.
• 23% of US employees didn’t take any of their paid available parental leave, with only 45% taking more than four-fifths of their allowance.

Career disruption

While women are more likely than men to take parental leave, they’re also more likely to experience negative effects upon their return to work. These weren’t necessarily explicit, but the effects of parental leave on career progression were definitely felt:

• 15% of women reported experiencing subtle career disruption after returning from parental leave, compared to just 5% of men.
• 6 in 10 women reported their careers continued as normal after returning to work, while this figure is much higher for men, at 76%.

In addition to experiencing career disruption, women were far less likely to feel supported by their employer while taking parental leave:

• Only 34% of women felt fully supported during parental leave, compared to 48% of men.
• Over 30% of all respondents avoided taking parental leave due to workplace pressures (either worrying about career stagnation, fearing losing a job or because the workplace discouraged it). This figure is slightly higher for women (35%) than men (31%).

One of our women respondents opened up about her experience and how maternity leave played a significant role in shaping her career journey:

"A male colleague got promoted over me because I had just returned from maternity leave, and they insinuated my baby would be a distraction for a project."

This reflects a common challenge women face when returning from maternity leave—being overlooked for opportunities or assumed to be less committed to their work.

What can employers and HR leaders do?

1. Normalize parental leave for everyone

Encourage both men and women to take full advantage of parental leave policies by actively promoting their benefits. When more men take paternity leave, it reduces the stigma around maternity leave and prevents career penalties from disproportionately affecting women.

2. Provide clear Return-to-Work support

Implement structured return-to-work programs, including phased returns, re-onboarding sessions, and mentorship opportunities. This helps employees transition back smoothly and prevents them from being sidelined after taking leave.

3. Train managers to reduce bias

Conduct training on unconscious bias to prevent discrimination against employees returning from maternity or paternity leave. Ensure performance evaluations and promotion opportunities are based on merit, not assumptions about availability or commitment.

By implementing these strategies, employers can create a more supportive and equitable workplace, where maternity, paternity, and caregiving leaves are not barriers to career progression.

Family plans and career opportunities

As well as affecting career progression, family plans may also influence your ability to get a job. As with many other aspects of the workplace experience, this appears to be skewed according to gender. Jobseeker’s survey revealed that:

• 47% of women were asked about family plans (i.e. having children) at a job interview. This is compared to 41% of men.
• More than half of men had never been asked this question (59%), while less than half of women had never experienced it in a job interview (48%).

Organizations should foster an environment where all candidates feel evaluated solely on their skills and experiences. Regular bias training for interviewers and diverse interview panels are essential steps in building an inclusive recruitment process that supports both career progression and personal choices.

Workplace policies and the changing legislative landscape: what does the future hold?

While the slowly reducing gender pay gap does point to some progression, it’s clear that there are still fundamental gender disparities when it comes to career opportunities and workplace experience. So, what role is legislation likely to play in addressing the gender imbalance, and is there anything more workers and employees can do to improve the picture?

Future legislation

The proposals laid out in Project 2025 could have a profound impact on federal DEI policies for the future. These plans risk derailing progress towards a more equal playing field for minority groups, by challenging or even dismantling DEI policies and programs. However, when asked about the potential federal policy changes, US workers were generally lacking in awareness:

• Only 25% of US workers were aware of ‘some of these proposals’.
• 30% had heard about the proposed policy changes but didn’t know the details.
• More than a third of all respondents (37%) weren’t aware of any potential federal policy changes to workplace regulations.

When asked which policy areas employees would be most concerned about changing, there were a few differences according to gender:

• 46% of women were concerned about equal pay and workplace discrimination protections, compared to 31% of men.
• 45% of men highlighted job security and workers' rights, compared to 39% of women.

However, there was broad agreement around a host of other priorities:

• More than a third of men and women were concerned about the availability of paid parental leave and childcare support for working parents (35% and 36%).
• Only around 1 in 10 men and women were worried about changes to federal hiring practices and workplace diversity programs (13% vs. 10%).

What can level the playing field?

The lack of awareness around the potential changes to workplace regulations may cause concern. There are clear benefits to ensuring employees know how policy changes could affect their experience of work and their future career opportunities. Considering training and awareness-raising activities to emphasize the importance of DEI efforts could reap benefits for your workforce.

Additionally, reviewing internal DEI programs and introducing clearer, more inclusive policies surrounding salaries, career progression, parental leave and workplace discrimination can go some way to protecting employees against the possible federal changes. These interventions can also ensure a happier, more engaged, more committed workforce, where women feel safe from discrimination and supported to thrive.