BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

TheSkimm’s New ‘State Of Women’ Report Reveals A Majority Are Done Letting Society Dictate Their Role

Following

The Great Resignation, the Great Breakup, Quiet Quitting: Call it what you will, the evidence is clear. Women are leaving the workforce in droves. In the wake of a global pandemic that demanded many act as caretakers to children and aging parents while managing full-time jobs, widespread burnout, exhaustion with belittling microaggressions at work, and disenfranchisement with the overturn of Roe v. Wade, female workers are saying, “enough!”

This is not just a problem for women, by the way. If left unaddressed, the gender inequity crisis will cost the global economy an estimated $7 trillion in gains each year.

But there is a silver lining. According to a new “State of Women” report released today by theSkimm, a digital media company dedicated to succinctly giving women the information they need to make confident decisions, American women are making the most of the chaos. 82 percent of women polled said that while there’s much talk about how overburdened women are, no one is actually helping ease the burden. As a result, a majority of women are done letting society dictate their role. They are redesigning their lives by changing the way they work and parent, and shifting their roles at home and in society.

The State of Women Report 2023, a proprietary study conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of theSkimm, marks the official launch of theSkimm’s State of Women data-informed, action-driving campaign. In the past, theSkimm has been able to create viral conversations around topics such as #ShowUsYourLeave. During a time of unprecedented turbulence, this campaign and corresponding report aims to generate further conversations and share expert advice and solutions for women on how to take control of their futures. The report touches on career and workplace, household roles, mental health, financial wellness, parenting, politics and more.

The truth is, it’s not just that the systems currently in place to support women are broken,” said Carly Zakin, the cofounder and co-CEO of theSkimm, in an exclusive interview with Forbes. “It’s that they were never designed to make us equal in the first place. Women can do hard things, we do them all the time. But many are struggling to put themselves anywhere but last on their list of things to take care of. Simply put, that is not sustainable.”

“Our mission at theSkimm has always been to get women informed and live smarter,” adds cofounder and co-CEO Danielle Weisberg. “We aren’t just calling attention to what isn’t working for women, we’re bringing to light how women are taking agency to change their lives for the better and show up in service to her and her community.”

The most shocking finding of the State of Women report for Zakin was discovering how much women are struggling with their mental health and prioritizing themselves. “A majority of women resonated with the term Chief Worry Officer, saying they felt like it was their job to think through every scenario and plan for every contingency,” she says. “Women are taking on unprecedented amounts of stress, anxiety and worry, and quite frankly, it’s really, really alarming. No wonder more than 1 in 5 women in the U.S. experiences a mental health condition, such as depression or anxiety.”

What’s most shocking to Weisberg is that the “huge problem” of women having to work and raise children can be fixed but hasn’t been. “Women need better systems of support from both the public and private sectors,” she says. “Offering child care and having a paid family leave policy are some things that can alleviate the labor women are forced to take on.”

On top of that, Weisberg says, there’s a growing trend of women in senior leadership roles opting out of work due to burnout and the invisible labor they have been forced to take on. She and Zakin both feel it is imperative that as a society, we give women more opportunities and more benefits to support their needs.

“As business leaders, some steps we can take are giving equitable pay for equitable work between men and women, offering flexible options for all employees so women don’t face the stigmas of needing to work remotely, and making sure to offer developmental and mentoring opportunities that put more women on the path to leadership positions,” Zakin explains.

Early on in their careers, both co-founders worked at NBC, where their job was to understand what was going on in the world. They saw a void in the marketplace when it came to speaking to millennial women in a way that resonated with them. Over a decade later, theSkimm’s mission remains the same: To get women informed and empower them.

When Zakin and Weisberg first started theSkimm, they were 20-something-year-old millennial women themselves. One of the biggest challenges they faced was convincing people that they could reach millennial women via a daily newsletter in their inbox. “We were told women were too niche and email was dead,” says Weisberg. “They even asked if our boyfriends wrote our sports content!”

However, facing these biases only helped fuel their drive to succeed. “We got scrappy and we were persistent,” says Weisberg. “We tapped into our networks and asked for advice from other business leaders and women. We made people see that if you leave women out, you miss a huge opportunity – women will own 75% of discretionary spending by 2028. Which is how we landed our first investors and the mentality we continue to keep today.”

Follow me on LinkedInCheck out my website