Women Are Leaving the Work Force, Creating Risks and Opportunities for Nonprofits

More than 212,000 women have left the work force since January, even as men have gained jobs, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It’s unclear exactly how many of those women worked at nonprofits. The BLS releases nonprofit employment data every five years, with the next release not due until 2029. But because women make up more than two-thirds of the sector’s work force, experts say the current exodus signals both a warning and an opening for nonprofits.

Women are especially overrepresented in fields like health care, social services, and education, which have been hit hardest by federal budget cuts and layoffs.

“More women leaving the work force means fewer public servants providing food assistance, health care, and essential public services that millions of Americans depend on,” said Akilah Watkins, CEO of Independent Sector. “Job losses for women also spell economic disaster for families struggling to survive as inflation continues to squeeze household budgets.”

Cathleen Clerkin, associate vice president of research at the nonprofit data analysis organization Candid, noted that the nonprofit fields with the highest proportion of women leaders — environment, health, education, and human services — are also those most affected by federal funding cuts.

“It seems fair to hypothesize that the nonprofit sector is at risk of losing women workers, and especially women leaders, given the current circumstances,” she said.

As of 2022, nonprofit roles accounted for nearly 10 percent of private sector jobs, representing some 12.8 million workers nationwide.

Women in nonprofits already faced persistent pay and leadership gaps, earning less than men in comparable positions and remaining underrepresented in senior roles. The current wave of job losses and shrinking flexibility threatens to deepen those disparities.

Women’s work force participation climbed to a historic high in 2023, aided by pandemic-era flexible work policies. Nearly 78 percent of women ages 25 to 54 were employed in May 2023, up from 75 percent in the same month of 2018. But those gains are slipping. As more employers require employees to work in the office, men are returning to the office at higher rates than women, potentially giving them an edge in organizations where visibility is tied to advancement.

“This is an alarm signal,” Tara Van Bommel, head of research at Catalyst, a nonprofit focused on gender equity and workplace inclusion, said. Women are being “forced out” of the work force for a variety of reasons — layoffs, fewer job opportunities, and the loss of workplace flexibility. “Very few are truly choosing to opt out of the work force,” she said.

Rolling back remote and flexible work policies “hurts women more than men because caretaking responsibilities still fall more heavily on women,” she said. “It seems like a turn in the wrong direction.”

A Warning and an Opportunity

Labor force participation among mothers has had a steeper decline, according to Misty Heggeness, a professor at the University of Kansas, who analyzed the recent BLS data. Return-to-office policies are more likely to negatively affect women — and especially women of color, who historically carry heavier burdens of care, she said.

“Nonprofits have an opportunity here to pull from top talent that the federal government lost,” Heggeness said. “There is more talent available today for nonprofits to tap into, and they could lure them with flexible work options.”

While not all nonprofits can offer remote roles, others may be able to give employees more flexible schedules. Those policies may give nonprofits a leg up in recruiting and retaining employees even if organizations can’t always offer competitive salaries.

“Nonprofits have a real opportunity to be competitive in recruiting and retaining women — but also just top talent in general — through offering flexible work options and arrangements,” Van Bommel said.

Rising child care costs, which have jumped 29 percent since 2020, are another factor pushing women out of the work force.

Nonprofits can’t control national labor trends, but they can choose how to respond, Van Bommel said. In addition to offering robust paid parental leave, organizations should consider bolstering family-friendly policies like offering child care support on-site, subsidized backup care, or paid emergency days off when care falls through.

Watkins, of Independent Sector, points to one policy solution: expanding the Employer-Provided Childcare Tax Credit to include nonprofits. Currently, the credit helps businesses offset the cost of child care for employees, but nonprofits are excluded.

“If the White House and Congress are serious about helping American families, they should end this disparity and stop forcing parents to choose between supporting their community and supporting their kids,” Watkins wrote in an email.