Molly McCartan: Why Working Moms Are Leaving and What It Says About Leadership Artwork

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Molly McCartan: Why Working Moms Are Leaving and What It Says About Leadership

December 30, 2025 • Aggie & Cristy • Season 4 • Episode 54

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Molly McCartan, Founder and CEO of The Mom Pact, joins Aggie and Cristy for a direct conversation about why nearly half of working moms are leaving the workforce and why this is not a motivation or confidence issue.

This episode looks at leadership, incentives, and systems that were never built to support real life transitions. Maternity leave, flexibility, childcare, career gaps, and return to work are not fringe topics. They are core business and leadership decisions with long term consequences.

If companies care about talent, retention, and performance, this conversation makes one thing clear. The problem is not working moms. The problem is how work is designed.

In this episode, we unpack:

Why high performing women exit the workforce after becoming mothers
What the 44 percent statistic actually reveals about leadership failure
Why flexibility outperforms salary increases in retention
The cost of rigid work structures on productivity and trust
Why career gaps should be viewed as capability, not risk
What most companies misunderstand about maternity leave and reintegration
Why the system pushes women out instead of pulling them back in
How community and strategy rebuild confidence after time away
What leadership looks like when policy has not caught up to reality

Core idea:

Working moms are not opting out. They are being pushed out by inflexible systems.

About the Guest

Molly McCartan is the Founder and CEO of The Mom Pact, a career driven network supporting working moms through major professional transitions. With more than a decade of experience in strategy, operations, and business development, Molly brings a business and policy lens to a problem often framed as personal.

Connect with Molly

Website: https://www.themompact.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollymccartan52/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themompact/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/molly.owens/

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