ATLANTA — The best way to celebrate moms is to acknowledge the work they do and the challenges they face.
In 2022, they face a set of unique challenges that have only grown in the past few years.
Motherly, which describes itself as "a wellbeing destination empowering mothers to thrive with expert content, innovative product solutions, and supportive community," a just released the results of its new 2022 State of Motherhood Survey.
Answered by more than 17,000 mothers, the survey found the Great Resignation during the COVID-19 pandemic has been "even more complicated" and far more frequent for moms than dads. More than a quarter of millennial and Gen Z mothers cited "childcare issues as the number one reason they left or quit their jobs in the last year."
Perhaps just as revealing were the questions that focused on daily life.
When asked how much sleep they got last night, only 8% of moms said they had gotten eight hours or more. Nearly 40% said they had slept five hours or less. Roughly two-thirds of moms said they had only gotten an hour or less of time to themselves without work or family. More than half (51%) said they hadn't gone out with their partner once in the past month.
Motherhood is grueling, more so now given the challenges of the pandemic.
That's why we've produced a half-hour special report devoted to the topic. It's called Motherhood in America.
We spent a day in the life of four moms across the country. Sheryl Day is a family resource coordinator who lives in Louisville, Kentucky. Jennifer Stapleton is an arts consultant who lives in Cheverly, Maryland. Theresa Alvarez-Jarrin works for a county housing authority and lives in San Diego, California. Jill Koziol, the founder and CEO of Motherly, lives in Park City, Utah.
Each mom has a distinct set of life experiences, hurdles and successes. Together, they form a fascinating portrait of modern-day motherhood.
In our new report, we followed the four moms through their typical days. We watched Koziol drop off her kids at school and immediately call her chief of staff to kick off the workday. We watched Alvarez-Jarrin feed her 1-year-old breakfast while logging into work. We watched Stapleton negotiate the complications of figuring out a new place to move. We watched Day handle the day-to-day issues of the largely low-income students at the school where she works.
Through it all, we heard from four women with detailed, thoughtful and often complicated thoughts about motherhood. Their voices, and those of moms nationwide, are necessary to hear.
Watch our special report, Motherhood in America, by clicking on the video below. (The trailer is at the top of the page.) And clickhere for more of the results from Motherly's 2022 State of Motherhood Survey.