Meghan urges businesses to support working mothers

HELPING working mothers with childcare is “imperative” for companies to succeed, the Duchess of Sussex has said.

The Duchess, who is supporting a new call for companies to support women by helping with childcare, said “families, especially working moms” are already asked to “shoulder so much”.

Signing Archewell, the non-profit organisation she set up with husband Prince Harry, up to the “Marshall Plan for Moms” the Duchess lent her public profile to boost a report which found that “expanded childcare benefits could further companies’ efforts to attract, retain, and advance women and help bring women back to work”.

“This has only been heightened by the pandemic, with increased caregiving responsibilities, rising prices, and economic uncertainty,” said the mother of two. “Today, we’re sending a message that childcare isn’t just a community imperative—it’s a business imperative.

“Creating a stronger workforce starts with meeting the needs of families.”

Marshall Plan for Moms, an American non-profit organisation, has released a new report making the business case for childcare. Its survey of more than 1,000 American parents with children ages 0-5 found 69 per cent of women would be more likely to choose an employer that offered on-site childcare or benefits to help pay for it.

More than half of women with young children who left the workforce temporarily, took on less hours, or moved to a less demanding job cited childcare as one of the reasons, the report said.

The organisation has now launched the “National Business Coalition for Child Care”, with members, including Archewell, required to show an “interest in pursuing solutions that equitably provide child care supports for employees”.