Moms First 2022 Impact Report

A letter from our CEO

Friends,

2022 should have been the year of the mom. With schools reopening and the pandemic waning, all signs pointed to it finally being our moment for respite, recovery, and change. The pandemic exposed how broken our system was, and we were hopeful that real change would follow in workplaces and in government.

Unfortunately, the opposite happened. Our much anticipated return to work was undermined by a worsening child care crisis, which intersected with a tripledemic to leave moms out sick and burned out. Employers tightened their belts at our expense, rolling back benefits like flexible work and paid leave that they had expanded during the pandemic. The pay gap between mothers and fathers expanded. And once again, despite broad bipartisan support, our government leaders failed to deliver the policies mothers need most, like affordable child care and guaranteed paid family leave.

And yet: against the odds, our small but mighty startup team was able to deliver an outsize impact across our workplaces, our government, and our culture—keeping issues impacting mothers at the forefront of the national conversation and making meaningful, measurable change in moms’ lives. What we achieved together was nothing short of incredible. Among our many wins this past year, we launched the National Business Coalition for Child Care—the only one of its kind; passed landmark legislation in New York City creating a Marshall Plan for Moms task force; changed the narrative around “mom guilt” with a creative ad campaign; and engaged champions like Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex and the superstar Lizzo to use their platforms to advocate for mothers. I am so proud to share this report with you, showcasing just a small sample of what is possible when we build a movement that puts moms at the forefront.

Building on our momentum, we kicked off 2023 with a big change: Marshall Plan for Moms is now Moms First. Our name is a reflection of the progress we’ve made—and a rallying cry to expand the movement we’re building together. Today, we are an active community of half a million mothers and supporters, united by our mission to fight for a society that, finally, puts moms first.

This year marks a turning point. What was a primal scream during the pandemic has coalesced into a collective conviction: enough is enough. Moms in this country have been pushed too far, and we’re not taking it anymore.

In spite of everything stacked against us, our movement is getting stronger every day. Today, we can say that Moms First isn’t going anywhere until the job is done.

Thank you for believing in this mission. None of this is possible without you.

Mission

We are a national non-profit organization transforming our workplaces, our government, and our culture to enable moms in America to thrive.

Why moms

Moms First (formerly Marshall Plan for Moms) was founded by Girls Who Code founder and activist Reshma Saujani in the COVID-19 pandemic as millions of women were pushed out of the labor force, erasing 30 years of progress overnight. The pandemic exposed what we’ve always known to be true: While other countries have social safety nets, America runs on the unseen, unpaid labor of moms. We cannot finish the fight for gender equity until we finish the fight for moms.

Today, moms remain in crisis. There is not a simple solution to this problem—no single piece of legislation or workplace policy or “50/50” partner that can address the deeply cultural, interconnected challenges facing mothers today. But the future of women’s equality, the health of our families, and the competitiveness of our businesses and the U.S. economy all depend on reimagining our institutions around the needs of mothers. In short: It’s time to put moms first.

Our goals

With a holistic approach and relentless ambition, Moms First aims to advance women’s economic freedom by uplifting the vital work of moms in our society, and building the power to win the public and private sector investments we need and deserve. Specifically, we work to:

Expand access to affordable childcare so moms have choices when it comes to pursuing careers and having kids

End the sexist motherhood penalty that undervalues moms’ labor and costs us hard earned money

Deliver gender neutral paid leave so moms can recover from childbirth and bond with our babies, without losing our jobs or our paychecks

Our impact

With support from our partners and funders, 2022 was a year of significant growth for our organization that directly enabled greater reach and impact across all areas of our work and policy priorities.

By the numbers

companies recruited to join our National Business Coalition for Child Care

8,223,573,35 2

press impressions garnered from op-eds and earned media, including hits in the New York Times and the Washington Post, and appearances on Good Morning America, MSNBC, and Amanpour

new full time staff members, adding Molly Day as Chief Operating Officer, Caroline Blayney as Director of Development, and Isabel Miranda as Program Manager

Marshall Plan for Moms task force created in New York City, following similar legislation in Los Angeles City Council and federal Marshall Plan for Moms resolutions introduced in the House and Senate

conferences headlined by founder and CEO Reshma Saujani, including co-chairing Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit and speaking at Aspen Institute, Milken Institute, SXSW and delivering the Yale University Commencement Address

opinion pieces published in top-tier media outlets advocating for increased support for moms

moms and supporters added to our Moms First community across platforms, including newly launched @MomsFirstUS channels

Transforming our workplaces

Working motherhood, a delicate balancing act before the pandemic, has become untenable. The child care shortage is worsening, the pay gap widening, and moms are leaving their employers at the highest rate in five years. What’s worse: employers are looking to return to the pre-pandemic status quo, rolling back benefits like child care, paid leave, and reneging on flexible work policies.

If we as a society view women working not as a “nice to have” but as a must have, it will require sweeping private sector change, starting with employers who recognize moms are still doing ⅔ of the unpaid household and caregiving work at home.

National Business Coalition for Child Care

In 2022, Moms First made significant progress in reframing the conversation around how to support women at work, and launching the National Business Coalition for Child Care—the only initiative of its kind that brings together forward-thinking companies around this critical issue for working families and businesses alike. Since 2022, the Coalition has grown to 19 members, spanning a diverse range of industries including financial services, retail, law, child care providers, famtech and more. (Read more about the National Business Coalition for Child Care on p. 14.)

In March 2022, Reshma Saujani published the instant bestseller Pay Up: the Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think) to provide a playbook for upending structures that are holding moms back and pushing us out, and creating a new future of work that works better for everyone. In connection with the launch of the book, Moms First released discussion guides and advocacy resources to equip our community to take action in their homes and workplaces, and hosted a fireside chat with Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York City.

Pay Up

Workplaces were never built for moms. From work hours that don’t sync up with school schedules to frigid office temperatures, work as we know it was designed around men—more specifically, men with wives at home. Women’s leadership has for decades focused on fixing the woman, calling on us to take more training courses, seek out mentors and sponsors, and girlboss our way to the top. But women’s equality will only come when we fix the system.

Fireside chat with Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and Moms First CEO Reshma Saujani

Driving cultural change

Unlike in many cultures around the world, in America, moms and our labor (at home and at work) are severely undervalued—and it’s holding us back from getting the support we need and deserve. To change this, Moms First engages in culture change and narrative work that not only uplifts the critical role moms play in our society, but builds identity, pride, and ultimately political power for moms.

Setting the media narrative

Our thought leadership is keeping moms and the issues that affect us at the forefront of the national conversation and connecting the dots between supporting mothers, achieving women’s economic freedom, and a thriving economy.

Reshma published 19 op-eds this year on a broad range of news and cultural topics. Some of the most popular and impactful included pieces published on the future of work (Time); why we should mandate paid leave for men (The Cut); bringing an end to “mom shaming” (Oprah Daily); the midterm elections and abortion as economic issue (CNN); supporting moms at work even when you’re not one (Elle); uniting moms around the parents rights we really need (Newsweek); the meaning of Serena Williams evolution from tennis (Romper); and a fresh take on the old “having it all” debate (Vogue).

Why Care? Podcast

Moms First teamed up with Care.com on a new six-episode podcast series that debuted in November, co-hosted by Reshma Saujani and Care.com CEO Tim Allen. Why Care? reaches out to parents to demystify our broken caregiving system, and convene candid, no-holds-barred conversations about everything from parenting to politics. Why Care? episodes featured expert guests like New York Times journalist Claire Cain Miller and renowned economist Betsey Stevenson, along with business leaders and Washington pollsters from both sides of the aisle.

Mom guilt campaign

We marked Mother’s Day in 2022 with a provocative awareness campaign that turned the idea of “mom guilt” on its head, sending a clear message that the problem isn’t moms, it’s America. The ad spoofed a stereotypical pharma ad and promised a cure for chronic mom guilt: child care, paid leave, and equal pay for moms. Through humility and humor, the campaign acknowledged the exhaustion and burnout facing mothers and invited moms and those who love them to join our movement for change.

Lizzo + Moms First

In December 2022, when Grammy award winning artist Lizzo was honored with the People’s Champion award at the People’s Choice Awards, she ceded her speech time to feature 17 activists, including Reshma Saujani. This tremendous privilege allowed Moms First to reach an even wider and more diverse national audience, and Lizzo’s recognition of our work spotlighted the issues we’re fighting for—child care, paid leave, and equal pay—among celebrities and culture movers, giving moms a big boost.

The Archewell Foundation

When Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex first voiced support for paid parental leave in 2021, we were proud to stand with her. Since then, she has been instrumental in our efforts to elevate the importance of motherhood in our culture. In 2022, The Duchess of Sussex leveraged her platform on numerous occasions, including in a Variety cover story this Fall, to voice support for our mission and organization as well as to speak out directly as a mom with passion and empathy for what so many moms are experiencing. The company she co-founded with her husband is also a member of the National Business Coalition for Child Care.

“Moms First is transforming the way we support families and mothers in communities across the country. They are helping to build a movement that puts parents, and moms first, creating a strong workforce, a thriving economy, and a standard where families receive the support they rightly deserve.”

— Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex

Building a nonpartisan mom movement

Our work starts and ends with our grassroots community of 500,000 moms and supporters across the country, which nearly doubled in force this year to power our impact in 2022. Central to our theory of change is that when we put aside what divides us and rally around our shared identity as moms first, we have the collective power to build a society that puts moms first.

In 2022, members of our community brought Pay Up book clubs to their workplaces and ERGs, signed online petitions to help pass the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, fought against book bans in our schools, and supported our work to enact Marshall Plan for Moms legislation in New York. They shared their stories, made connections with one another, and took this fight to their own homes, workplaces, and communities.

“The lack of paid parental leave in this country denies mothers the opportunity to care for their newborns and to heal mentally and physically before returning to work. I want to help change that, which is why I just testified yesterday in front of the MN State senate for NICU mothers and working mothers for paid family and medical leave. I found the [Moms First] focus group to be very inspiring. I am so thankful for all of you putting in so much work on these important issues.”

— Ellen Wood Mom of two and member of the Moms First Community

Digital community

Our thought leadership and campaigns have made us a destination for commentary and connection around motherhood. Our Instagram and LinkedIn followings in particular achieved meaningful growth this year.

Winning legislative change for moms

Marshall Plan for Moms Task Force

Moms First worked with the New York City Council to pass legislation that establishes a Marshall Plan for Moms Task Force. Part of a package of seven bills passed aimed at helping families and making child care more affordable for New Yorkers, the task force will develop and issue recommendations to support working mothers and caregivers. The research and recommendations that come out of this Marshall Plan for Moms task force will serve as building blocks for bold, systemic changes that help moms thrive nationwide.

Partners & Donors

With support from our partners and funders, 2022 was a year of significant growth for our organization that directly enabled greater reach and impact across all areas of our work and policy priorities.

SYNCHRONY

“Moms First envisions a world where women have choice and support from their families, workplaces, and government. I’m proud to be a male ally in this fight.”

— Brian O’Kelley Cofounder, AppNexus

PIVOTAL VENTURES

In 2022, Pivotal Ventures, a Melinda French Gates company, partnered with Moms First to support private sector changes that expand choices for women and remove barriers to equality.

“Moms First is leading a movement to drive more equitable workplaces, lean into innovative and flexible solutions, and normalize the challenges of working parents. Business leadership on this issue is more important now than ever and we’re proud to partner with Moms First to help finish the fight for women’s equality.”

— Carol Juel Executive Vice President and Chief Technology and Operating Officer, Synchrony

“As the founding donor of Moms First, I’m thrilled to be a part of the movement that is on track to make real policy and culture change for mothers in America.”

— Craig Newmark Craig Newmark Philanthropies

National Business Coalition for Child Care

We are in the midst of a national child care crisis, and in the face of government inaction, the private sector must step up and lead by treating child care as the business and economic issue it is. In 2022, we launched the National Business Coalition for Child Care to bring together companies at the vanguard of solving the child care crisis to elevate child care as an essential business issue, and through their leadership, increase the number of working Americans with access to new or expanded benefits and services. Our strategy includes:

Promoting Learning

Offering peer engagement opportunities and developing knowledge products to make the case for new or expanded benefits or to support implementation.

Amplifying First Movers

Highlighting the work of industry leaders who are supporting employees with childcare to inspire change from within the private sector.

Inspiring Action

Providing opportunities to facilitate new and/or expanded benefits adoption through activities such as pledging events, commitment challenges or innovation workshops.

Cultivating Leadership

Supporting CEOs and corporate leaders in speaking out on the business case for child care, setting business trends, and influencing social norms.

CHILD CARE CHAMPIONS

Adecco US Group Foundation

Archewell

Athletes Unlimited

CHILD CARE INNOVATORS

Carefully Care.com

Hey Mirza

Onsite Kids

Tootris

Vivvi

WeeCare

Our 2022 impact

Etsy

Fast Retailing

Gibson Dunn

Harvard University

Hire Talent

Kirkland & Ellis

Olo

Patagonia

Synchrony

In its first year, the National Business Coalition for Child Care demonstrated progress against all four of these pillars, recruiting 19 members from across industries, publishing original research with McKinsey, amplifying the leadership of our members in the media, and engaging C-level executives to highlight the business case for child care on a national stage.

Fortune Most Powerful Women

Foundational research

As our first action, the National Business Coalition for Child Care partnered with McKinsey on an original study: “The Business Case for Child Care: How Parent-Focused Employee Value Propositions Help Companies Win the War for Talent.” Drawing from original surveys and research, the report articulates a clear case to employers that providing child care benefits is key to attracting, retaining, and advancing women—and recommends immediate steps businesses can take to create and implement child care benefits solutions.

PROPOSITIONS HELP COMPANIES WIN THE 15

WAR FOR TALENT

Carol Juel, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology and Operating Officer of Synchrony hosted a panel about how companies can finish the fight for women’s equality, starting by supporting moms with benefits like child care and paid leave.

Carol Juel, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology and Operating Officer of Synchrony, and Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code, join Fortune’s Ruth Umoh to discuss how businesses can restore

women to the workforce. // Kristy Walker for Fortune

2023 Vision

As Moms First, 2023 will be our most ambitious year to date. Fueled by a growing grassroots, nonpartisan community of moms united by a shared identity and purpose, by 2027 we are committed to winning paid leave and child care for as many mothers as possible, in as many places as possible. To that end, we plan to:

Accelerate our culture change work to build respect and political capital for moms, including through continued thought leadership, creative campaigns, celebrity partnerships, and investments in the Moms First brand.

Grow the size and scale of our National Business Coalition for Child Care, elevating child care as an essential business issue and increasing the number of companies and employees who have access to expanded child care benefits.

Expand our digital community to 1 million moms and supporters on both sides of the aisle, inspired and equipped to take meaningful actions in their homes, workplaces, and communities. We will specifically engage this community to win workplace and State-level paid leave and child care benefits.

CONTACT US

We are grateful for your critical support of our work. Moms First has had real world impact in 2022 and looks to scale its reach and scope in 2023. Thank you for being a part of this movement for social change and being there for moms, who need champions like you!

Moms First is a venture of Girls Who Code, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. For more information, please contact caroline@momsfirst.us

Moms First

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LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/momsfirst/ Website: www.MomsFirst.us

Reshma Saujani

Instagram: @ReshmaSaujani

Twitter: @ReshmaSaujani

Facebook: bravenotperfectbook

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/reshma-saujani

Website: www.ReshmaSaujani.com