The Changing Landscape of Motherhood

Comparing younger generations to the older ones is a conversation topic as old as time. Usually, this is a judgmental kind of conversation, but not when done in the spirit of trying to understand different generations’ points of view. In many cases, listening to the experiences and opinions of younger generations reveals valuable insights into where our country is lacking, especially since young people are often the ones impacted by instability.

Recently, Motherly published their 2024 State of Motherhood report, which compares statistics of two generations: Millennials and Generation Z (“Gen-Z”). For clarity, Millennials were born between 1981-1996 (ages 28-43 in 2024) and Gen-Z was born through 1997-2012 (ages 12-27 in 2024). This age gap might not seem like much, but Motherly’s report reveals a wide range of differences between the two generations on the topic of motherhood. While differences between two back-to-back generations are typical, the changes in some of these statistics are alarming. Again, if young adult generations are struggling in the areas Motherly reports on, this is a poor reflection of the United States as a whole, making the report relevant to the upcoming 2024 election.

We at Connecting Mothers Initiative surveyed Millennial and Gen-Z mothers for their opinions and experiences, which are included here for extra insight alongside Motherly’s statistics. We surveyed three Millennial mothers and two Gen-Z mothers, all having between one to two children.

Number of Children

In 2019, 35% of moms under 30 said that they were not planning on having another child. In 2024, this percentage skyrocketed: 69% of mothers under 30 said that they were done having kids.

Our survey revealed some interesting insight: only one mom out of each generation—one Millennial and one Gen-Z—shared that they are planning on having more kids in the future. Everyone else said that they are not, either because of pregnancy complications or the number of children they have already.

Motherly’s data gives some extra insight into the statistics: In 2024, 33% of moms under 30 point to inadequate childcare for mothers in the workforce as their reason for not having additional children. Another major reason is the environment (or generally the state of the world). Moms under 30 are five times more likely to use this as a reason to not have more kids.

Workforce

The job market is already vicious. American twenty-somethings are entering a competitive workforce that makes the chances of getting a job slim to none. To young parents, this competitiveness is crippling. Motherly’s statistics reveal another grim truth: The state that the workforce is in right now, even if a mother manages to get a job, it is an environment and system that is hostile to new parents.

Christine Michel Carter says it well: “We should prioritize our mental health over our careers, but when we do, we’re still punished. And let’s be clear, companies also suffer, losing valuable and proven productive employees, thereby negatively impacting their bottom line.”

Let’s look at the Motherly statistics: In 2024, 66% of moms considered leaving the workforce because of stress and the cost of childcare, a statistic that is a 14% increase from last year. 82% of these mothers are Gen-Z, a dramatic majority. Out of the Gen-Z moms, another 82% said they left the workforce solely to raise their children, due to not being able to maintain both a career and childcare.

From the mothers who are not currently in the workforce, exactly 50% said they would need affordable childcare to be able to return to a career.

So, childcare’s an issue. Mothers with a newborn need to be able to have paid maternity leave, and after that period, working moms who cannot afford childcare should be able to have work flexibility, particularly with being able to work from home. Child and household care from a spouse would also take off the stress, but depending on how strenuous the spouse’s job is, that might not always be possible all the time.

First, let’s look at job flexibility. Motherly says that Gen-Z moms are 2.5 times less likely than Millennial moms to have job flexibility, and half as likely to have paid maternity leave. On top of that, Millennial moms are two to three times more likely as Gen-Z moms to have full-time employment that allows them to work from home.

Looking over the portion of our survey about moms in the workplace, we found an interesting common thread. One anonymous Millennial mother shared encouraging things, saying “I enjoy working with the potential to advance in my career, and it certainly helps financially and overall as a family to have a life-work balance for both parents.” One of our survey questions asked if they felt deterred in the workplace because they’re a parent, and this person said, “Not at all. I am lucky to have a working environment that supports working parents and nearby family members who support us with our child. I also work from home most days.”

A job that supports mothers, work flexibility and a supportive spouse? Statistically, this is remarkable.

For Millennial mothers, 20% are likely to have some support from a partner who also works from home. While this isn’t an insignificant percentage, it’s still less than a quarter.

For Gen-Z, this percentage is 7%.

7%—a sliver of the population of Gen-Z moms—are likely to have some support from a partner who works from home.

Everyone’s situation is different. As said before, it’s not always possible for spouses to split child and house care equally, especially if the spouse’s career is the main source of income. But support for mothers is a powerful thing.

Melissa (also a Millennial) has a similar career situation as the previous case, sharing that her career is important to her and that she’s “grateful for an extremely supportive spouse.” But Melissa encountered an aspect of the workplace that many moms also face: “I had egregious maternity leave benefits (2 weeks) and had to fight for support while my son was in the NICU for 2 months.” After finally getting four months of maternity leave, she almost didn’t return to work “given the lack of support I had during that time.” She adds, “My husband having 4 months off alongside me was one of the only reasons I was able to.”

Just as important as sufficient maternity leave is job flexibility, especially for moms whose spouses work full-time. If a job can be remote, it should be offered as remote, especially for parents.

Liz, a Millennial, worked in a contract role before becoming the founder and Executive Director of a nonprofit. She says, “Whatever job I do, work has to be flexible because I am the primary caregiver for my children. My husband is active-duty military and unfortunately, his job takes precedence due to contractual obligations.”

Of course, stay-at-home moms who want to stay out of the workforce absolutely still exist. Amongst our two Gen-Z moms, Hailey is a stay-at-home mom and Sofia has a flexible part-time job due to financial need. However, Sofia adds that she would rather not work, saying “It’s difficult to work and be a present parent. You don’t want to miss any precious moments while working.”

Homelife

While they get the short end of the stick in the workforce, it’s not all doom and gloom for Gen-Z moms. Between the two generations, Gen-Z is more likely than Millennials to have support from their partners with household responsibilities. 60% of Gen-Z mothers say they share equal household responsibilities with a partner, while only 35% of Millennial moms report the same. Gen-Z moms are also twice as likely to have help from their partners than their parents did (Generation X and Baby Boomers).

Another highlight for Gen-Z moms is in mental health: seven in ten are seeking therapy. Though, sadly, so many moms are suffering from mental health issues, the fact that they’re seeking help for it is a positive step forward, especially since therapy has been considered taboo for so long.

In terms of personal time, while Motherly doesn’t provide the statistics for Millennials, it’s clear that Gen-Z is doing well, at least compared to how the workplace is treating them. 53% of Gen-Z moms get an hour to themselves each day, as compared to 39% of all moms. At least once a month, 74% of Gen-Z goes out with friends without their kids tagging along. Another monthly occasion for Gen-Z is going on a date with their partner, which 79% of Gen-Z enjoy.

CMI’s survey, while significantly smaller than Motherly’s, reflects these statistics perfectly. We asked Millennial and Gen-Z moms how much child-free time they got by themselves, with a partner or with friends. Our three Millennials gave diverse answers: one time per week, twelve hours a month and once every three to four months. When we asked the Gen-Z moms, one said one to two hours every day or every other day, and the other said one to three hours each day, significantly more than our Millennial samples. However, a major aspect of our samples is that the Gen-Z moms we surveyed either work part-time or stay at home, while the Millennial moms have more time-consuming jobs or responsibilities, which certainly sways the results.

Political Topics

With these statistics in mind, Motherly urges readers to educate themselves on the issues that affect parents in the upcoming election, such as federally mandated paid leave, climate change, abortion and gun control. Motherly stated that “surprisingly”, moms under 30 are 3 times less likely to support these policies, disagreeing with the older generations that are advocating for the policies.

Closing Thoughts

As we said at the start, it’s important to ask the younger generations questions and compare them to where the older generations were at their age. Young parents are raising the next generation, so it’s important to ensure they have the support systems in place, both financially and personally, to raise a healthy generation.

The most concerning aspect of Motherly’s report is the state of the workplace. It’s interesting that, after a century of advocating for women’s careers in a traditionally male-dominated workplace, we’re seeing a reverse. Not a reverse in the desire for women to work, but an increase in women staying at home with the kids whether they want to work or not. It’s one thing that the workplace doesn’t provide much childcare support for working moms, but the situation is made even worse by the fact that childcare costs have gone up. This wouldn’t be such a blow if job flexibility was more widely accepted, but we’ve seen that the option to work from home isn’t being extended to younger moms as it should be. Even for moms with older or grown children, entering the workforce after years of a career pause is difficult. There needs to be major change in this area if the workforce, and the United States, are to be sustained.

Bethany Brewer is an Orlando-based creative writer and an editorial intern at Connecting Mothers Initiative. She has a B.A. in English from the University of Central Florida and uses it to write blogs, short stories and video game scripts.