Working mothers face a lot of bias — here's how to push back

Proven strategies for combating bias and taking control of your career.

Before You Start

Goal: Explore the realities of maternal bias at work and build practical strategies for advocating for yourself, making your contributions visible, and advancing on your own terms.

Watch: "Working mothers face a lot of bias—here's how to push back." Members are encouraged to watch beforehand, but a quick recap at the meeting works too.

Meeting Agenda · Approx. 90 mins

  • Member Updates · 15 mins
  • Icebreaker · 15 mins
  • Key Takeaways · 5 mins
  • Activity 1: Identifying and advocating for your goals · 20 mins
  • Activity 2: Prioritizing high-visibility projects · 20 mins
  • One Action · 3 mins
  • Wrap-Up · 7 mins

👋 Member Updates · 15 mins

Go around your Circle and share personal updates. Keep them brief and focused on significant changes or important decisions since the last time you met. It's OK not to have one every month. If you have a One Action update from last time, share that too.

🧊 Icebreaker · 15 mins

Invite everyone in the group to share. Keep answers to one or two minutes per person.

What assumptions have been made about you as a working mother? And are there other aspects of your identity or culture that have impacted how you are viewed as a working mother?

💡 Key Takeaways · 5 mins

  • Research shows mothers are often more ambitious than non-mothers. Still, mothers can face negative stereotypes that they are "leaning out," which can lead to fewer promotions and fewer job opportunities.
  • Bias towards working mothers is real—but it can be countered. If you're aware that colleagues might question your commitment and drive, you can plan to proactively challenge these assumptions.
  • Visibility is an important tool. Making your determination and drive visible makes it harder for colleagues to doubt your commitment to your career.
  • Motherhood makes it doubly important to ruthlessly prioritize. You may have less time than before you had a child, but you can be equally effective with the right strategies.

🏋️ Activity 1: Identifying and advocating for your goals · 20 mins

Write it down (5 mins):

  • Write down three ambitious career goals: one short-term, one long-term, and one big-picture goal.
  • For each goal, consider how you'll describe it to your boss or senior colleagues to signal your commitment, ambition, and enthusiasm for contributing to your team and company.

Discuss as a group (15 mins): Share one of your goals with the group. Offer affirmation and feedback to each person after they've spoken.

🏋️ Activity 2: Prioritizing high-visibility projects · 20 mins

Write it down (10 mins): Make a list of your main projects over the next 6 to 12 months and rank them from high priority to low priority, keeping your boss's and company's goals top of mind. Brainstorm how you can delegate lower-priority tasks or defer them to create more space for higher priorities that will get you noticed. It can also be helpful to align with your manager and make sure your highest priorities support their top goals.

Discuss as a group (10 mins): Go around the Circle and have everyone share either an idea for delegating a low-priority task or a plan for getting onto a high-visibility project.

✍️ Write It Down · 2 mins

Take a few quiet minutes to connect the discussion to your own life. Make a quick list of actions or questions to revisit later.

Think about one assumption that has been made about your commitment or ambition as a working mother. How would you push back on it—specifically and confidently?

🎯 One Action · 3 mins

Commit to one concrete action — big or small — you'll take before next meeting. Go around the Circle and share (1 minute or less per member). Vocalizing it helps hold each other accountable.

Start a conversation with your manager this week by asking, "what are your top three goals right now, and how can I best help to advance them?" That will help you make best use of your time. Or commit to communicating one of your career goals from Activity 1 to your manager.

📅 Wrap-Up · 5 mins

Before you break, plan your next meeting and close on an energetic note. Go around your Circle one by one and finish the sentence:

Now I am feeling… (choose one word).

  • Set the day, time, and location
  • Choose the next topic or resource
  • Confirm who's leading the discussion
  • Decide how you'll stay in touch in between