12/11/25
Why So Many Women Are Leaving the Workforce — and What They’re Really Chasing Instead
It’s not about quitting. It’s about buying back control.
For most of the past century, the story of women and work has been one of progress.
In 1948, only 32 percent of women were employed or seeking work.
By the 1990s, that number had nearly doubled to 60 percent, and the gap between men and women’s participation rates steadily narrowed.
Even the pandemic — which sent millions home overnight — ended with women rebounding faster than men.
By early 2025, the gender gap in participation had fallen to just 10.1 percentage points, the smallest in history.
Then the curve turned.
From a post-Covid high of 57.7 percent in August 2024, women’s labour-force participation dipped to 56.9 percent a year later — meaning more than 600,000 women stepped away from paid work.
Men’s participation stayed steady.
And this isn’t just an American phenomenon.
In the UK, the gender gap in participation has begun to widen again; in Europe, women’s employment growth has stalled; and in Australia, record-high participation is paired with rising part-time work.
Across the world, women are not retreating from ambition — they’re re-evaluating what kind of ambition is worth their energy.
It’s Not the Economy
The data make one thing clear: women aren’t leaving because their jobs disappeared.
The industries losing the most roles — retail, manufacturing, and transportation — are largely male or balanced.
Meanwhile, education and healthcare, where women dominate, have added jobs.
This isn’t about redundancy. It’s about reassessment.
A Baby Boom — and a Bandwidth Crisis
Part of the picture is demographic.
After years of pandemic-delayed weddings, 2022 saw a surge in marriages, followed by a wave of new parents in 2023 and 2024. Economists suggest a mini post-pandemic baby boom may be pulling more women temporarily out of the workforce.
Two years ago there were 7.8 million working mothers with children under five; now there are 7.9 million.
The participation rate looks lower only because there are more mothers overall.
But beyond the statistics lies something deeper: exhaustion. After decades of running on “lean in” energy, many women are simply asking what the constant striving was for.
“I realised I’d achieved everything except peace,” says Tanya, a Female Invest member in London. “Now I’m building my life around balance, not burnout.”
The Flexibility Hangover
Research by Misty Heggeness of the University of Kansas shows that women who were pregnant in March 2020 — and became mothers during lockdown — are more likely to be working now than those who gave birth the year before.
Why? Because remote work made it possible.
When work could fit around life, women stayed.
Now, as return-to-office mandates spread from New York to London to Sydney, that fragile balance is breaking.
From Leaning In to Looking Inward
Ambition used to mean constant acceleration. But many women are starting to measure success in a new currency: time.
“I don’t want more titles,” says Amira, a Female Invest member in Paris. “I want more mornings that belong to me.”
Sociologists call this a power pause — a deliberate slowdown to refocus priorities.
It’s not about giving up on success, but about making it sustainable.
Inside the Female Invest Community
We see this change inside this community too.
As members of Female Invest, many of you are taking control of your finances, not to escape work, but to shape your futures on your own terms. You’re investing to buy yourselves time, freedom, and opportunity — the things money was always meant to make possible.
We hear it from you every day: women saving for sabbaticals, investing for flexibility, building businesses that align with their values, or simply creating the cushion that lets them say no when something doesn’t feel right.
Money, in this light, isn’t just about wealth.
It’s about agency — the ability to choose when to speed up, when to slow down, and when to stop altogether.
A Global Rethink
Economists predict most of the women counted as “out” in 2025 will return within a year or two.
But when they do, they’ll bring different expectations: flexibility as the norm, balance as non-negotiable, and financial independence as the foundation for choice.
Because the story of women and work was never simply about getting in the door. It was about rewriting what happens once we’re inside.
And as a community of women building wealth, purpose, and power, we’re not walking away from ambition — we’re buying the freedom to define it.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/style/girl-boss-lean-in-ambition.html