The Unacknowledged Plight of Professional Women: An Alternative Lens with Implications for Action

The present year, 2024, is an election year in the U. S., and inflation is currently one of the key issues for voters. Inflation puts added stress on American households, many of which require two incomes to cover their expenses, a trend that has existed for over half a century. There are significant implications for women’s mental health related to family life and/or planning when we account for factors such as delayed motherhood, invisible work, hermeneutic labor, and gender role strain. Autonomy, choice, and consent are the underpinnings of any equitable society; however, many women, particularly those who spent time and money investing in a demanding career as a professional psychologist, feel unsupported, gas-lighted, and burned out.

Many professional women lament that they “did everything right” by pursuing their careers; however, they are often faced with unexpected hurdles within their personal lives, particularly as it relates to family planning. For one thing, women have surpassed men in terms of baccalaureate degree completion. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, women accounted for nearly 60% of all college students by the end of the 2021-2022 academic year.

Women have also surpassed men in terms of doctoral/graduate degree completion and outnumber men in the college-educated labor force. As a result, many women are faced with dating challenges as their standards increase and the dating pool narrows, since many men are regarded as economically unattractive or unmarriageable. For example, Lichter et al. (2019) used data imputation methods to estimate the characteristics of unmarried women’s potential spouses. These “synthetic husbands” had an average income that is 58% higher than the actual unmarried men currently available to unmarried women. They were also 30% more likely to be employed and 19% more likely to have a college degree. The issue is further complicated among professional women of color, as men’s un- or under-employment, immigration issues, cultural expectations to financially support relatives, and systemic oppression come into play. A recent Morgan Stanley study projected that 45% of women in their “prime working years” (i.e., 25-44) will be single and childless by 2030. Furthermore, the average age of marriage has trended upward and the national average is now approximately 29 for women; therefore, those who do marry and desire to bear children tend to start their families later. A number of professional women delay motherhood as they pursue their careers to attain economic, academic and professional stability. Delayed motherhood places mothers who are at an “advanced maternal age” (i.e. over 35) at increased risk for a number of complications with regard to fertility, pregnancy, miscarriage, and chromosomal abnormalities that lead to genetic disorders. Desired family size is another important factor to consider and makes age more salient. And of course, the cost for fertility treatments and genetic testing can be astronomical, creating a barrier for many women.

Simply put, professional women should receive more empathy, compassion, and support. A married schoolteacher disclosed that she has 12+ hour days outside of the home. She explained that she leaves the house at 6:45 am and does not arrive home until 6:45 to 7:00 pm due to after-school obligations, her commute, and outstanding work tasks. She added that she then comes home to fix dinner and help her children with their homework. This story is not at all uncommon and, in fact, is the reality for many American households with children.

It gets even more complicated when you factor in the cost of daycare and the fact that many women are forced to return to work when their infants are only 6 weeks old. Caring for a newborn and waking up every 3 hours significantly impacts one’s capacity to function in the workplace. In addition, postpartum depression affects 1 in 7 women. Not everyone can afford a nanny or au pair, and family support is sometimes hard to come by. Tangentially related, although daycare facilitates cognitive development and social skills, they are notorious “petri dishes,” and it is virtually impossible for mothers to call out from work every time their children are sick.

Added to all this are systemic barriers, such as gender-based pay inequality, lack of national support for parental leave, and limits of health insurance coverage for post-partum support.  Many professional mothers are also contending with outstanding student loan debt. Furthermore, motherhood penalizes professional women in terms of income and opportunities for advancement. Many are passed over for promotions and offered a lower salary than child-free women. Systemically, professional mothers are not provided with adequate support and resources to be well and to succeed. As a result, such women are most likely to opt out of the workforce or reduce their hours, given their caregiving responsibilities.

It is even more problematic when someone who wants to have a child cannot afford to do so, which has given rise to the expanding DINK (“Dual Income, No Kids”) movement. An added layer is that women are increasingly becoming the breadwinners despite the continuing gendered expectations that men should take the lead in breadwinning and women in domestic responsibilities; furthermore, violation of these gender norms may cause marital stress. A number of these breadwinner women experience resentment toward their partners for having to work so much, let alone at all, particularly when there are children involved, which can serve as a deterrent to child bearing.

Finally, for psychologists, there are the added burdens that accompany the journey to board-certification (including additional training requirements, fees, and time), or for maintaining one’s role as a specialist. Prior to this stage, the barriers faced by early career professionals are especially disconcerting particularly in a field primarily comprised of women who have historically been marginalized and disenfranchised. Many post-doctoral fellows do not earn a livable wage despite their knowledge base, and have to depend on food stamps, public assistance, parents, or higher earning partners to make ends meet. Although APA doctoral internships are typically paid positions, most doctoral interns make less than $35,000 per year, and many of those are paid less than $30,000. Keep in mind, women who earn doctorates are 31.9 years of age on average when their degrees are conferred and 31.3 years of age for recipients of psychology doctorates more specifically. It is infantilizing with patriarchal undertones for professional women, when there are systemic obstacles in place such as the “40x rent rule” which given the income requirements would necessitate a guarantor in order to have safe and steady housing in most major cities within the U.S. Alternatively, there is the option of subpar living conditions, an unreasonable commute, and multiple roommates which pose other potential challenges. Economic hurdles also make the road to licensure within psychology unnecessarily difficult given the costs to sit for the EPPP licensing examination and the widely marketed preparation materials and study tools, and then there are the added expenses and challenges of applying for Board certification. Tenure-track positions are significantly on the decline as the academic workforce relies more heavily on graduate student employees and contingent appointments (i.e. adjuncts, part-time faculty, and visiting professors), which women and other underrepresented groups make up a greater proportion of. Not to mention, the pay within academia, university counseling centers, and even veterans’ affairs sites is dismal relative to industry positions and professorships in other arenas such as medicine or law.

In terms of viable solutions more broadly, there needs to be more transparency and honesty within our culture so that professional women know what to expect. There is a need for more measures to support professional women such as support groups and therapeutic resources geared toward meeting their unique gender expectations, role strain and experiences of stress. From more of a systems lens, fertility treatments are primarily paid for out of pocket. Only 21 states plus District of Columbia mandate coverage of fertility treatments, and only 15 include IVF. Costs for a single cycle of IVF have recently been estimated to range from $15,000 to $20,000 and can exceed $30,000. Not to mention, the number of cycles needed to conceive varies per individual. Even when patients have insurance, essential fertility drugs, which can cost over $5,000 per round of treatment, are often excluded. Therefore, there needs to be expansion of coverage for this vital care. Once the woman actually conceives, routine prenatal care has become so expensive due to high deductibles that medical supervision has become a luxury. Flexible work schedules and remote options would facilitate work-life balance and collaboration on domestic responsibilities. The cost of childcare continues to outpace earnings and cost of living, which has resulted in many professional women being ousted from the workforce; therefore, childcare reform is also warranted.

In conclusion, society has failed the women who make up the bulk of the workforce. It is not sustainable for professional mothers to be at such a disadvantage. What is perhaps most insidious, is that many women are unaware of the challenges that lie ahead until it becomes their reality. With more transparency and more of a concerted effort to support the professional women in choosing their own path rather than it being decided for them, we can anticipate significant improvements in health outcomes and life satisfaction.