**7. Conclusions and Implications**

Overall, the study findings indicate that many of the women who responded emphasized that, for numerous reasons, they believe their career advancement trajectories were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. For some, the setbacks were employerrelated, such as paused raises and promotions because of economic uncertainty. For others, the stall was related to limitations imposed by remote work, such as the lack of networking and inability to impress. Others felt they could not pursue opportunities such as a promotion, a better job elsewhere, or furthering their education because of increased responsibility at home or declining mental health. Still others lost work, hours, and many reported that their businesses suffered. Clearly, the pandemic has had a profound impact on women at work, the effects of which may be felt for years to come. Yet there are many actions that can happen now to mitigate unequal outcomes moving forward.

First, there is ample room for improvement in the support that organizations offer their employees. For example, flexible work arrangements, leave policies, and childcare support could be especially useful to many employees experiencing increased family responsibilities. The need for these policies did not start with the pandemic, but COVID-19 has heightened their utility, especially moving forward, to ensure women can effectively rebound and thrive. Research shows that offering family-friendly policies has a positive economic impact for the entire community, and it increases diversity, productivity, and job satisfaction for employees [65,66]. Organizations can also actively recruit women who left the workplace during the pandemic and implement long-term strategies for recruiting women who are returning to the workplace after career breaks.

Second, federal, state, and local governments can implement policies that can continue to benefit women's recovery from the negative impacts of COVID-19 and positively affect women (and men) in the future. These include implementing public policies that focus on narrowing the gender pay gap; increasing investment in training and upskilling opportunities that support women, including return-to-work initiatives; offering incentives that encourage businesses to implement family-friendly and inclusive policies; and providing more support for childcare offices and programs.

The aforementioned practical supports would be very important for women, as there should be systems and contingencies in place to help them succeed when unexpected events such as a worldwide pandemic happen. However, implementing these supports is essential regardless of potential global catastrophes; the need for cultural and systemic shifts persists. As long as women are primarily socialized to see themselves as needing to prioritize parenting roles, and men are socialized to eschew the parenting role, women will likely continue to bear the brunt of the professional penalties when unexpected events happen, and systems go awry. In the course of individual lives, many unexpected needs arise, most often related to health or family obligations. It is important that organizational leaders recognize the need to put supportive policies in place. These leaders should also incentivize all workers to take advantage of these policies that allow them to participate equally in the multiple roles that they are engaged in. This problem of systemic gender inequality, exacerbated by identity socialization and unconscious bias, can be solved through education and active training to increase awareness. Creating additional supports will allow workers to succeed in the unexpected individual and collective circumstances that they may encounter throughout their professional lives.

**Author Contributions:** Methodology, M.C. and S.R.M.; Formal analysis, M.C. and S.R.M.; Investigation, M.C.; Writing—original draft, S.M.L. and S.R.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Utah State University (protocol code 11671, 16 December 2020).

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** Research data for this study can be explored by accessing this visual dashboard: https://www.usu.edu/uwlp/dashboards/covid/index.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**


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**Tingting Zhang 1,\* and Chloe Rodrigue <sup>2</sup>**


**Abstract:** This study aims to examine the effects of various maternity leave support on the quiet quitting behaviors and mental health conditions of working mothers across industries during the post-pandemic period. Through an empirical survey method of 310 valid responses from a panel data, the study results indicated that working mothers who took maternity leave were less likely to adopt quiet quitting behaviors when they returned to work after childbirth and showed better mental health at work compared to their peers who did not take maternity leave because of childbirth and/or childcare. Additionally, paid maternity leave was not found to have a significant effect on quiet quitting behaviors and mental health of working mothers across industries, but the duration of maternity leave was found as a significant factor in impacting working mothers' quiet quitting behaviors and their mental health conditions. Moreover, peer workers' quiet quitting behaviors and supervisors' support for childcare (e.g., flexible work schedule) were found significantly to improve working mothers' quiet quitting tendencies at work. Lastly, there exist significant differences in age and race in the working mothers' quiet quitting behaviors at work.

**Keywords:** working mothers; maternity leave policy; quiet quitting; career advancement; retention; flexible work policy; maternal health; emotional well-being
