Clinically reviewed by Chris Mosunic, PhD, RD, MBA, Chief Clinical Officer, Calm
With retention, productivity, and overall organizational health at stake, employers are doubling down on workforce mental health as a core strategic priority. To make meaningful progress, however, they must sharpen their focus on supporting women’s mental wellness.
Women continue to make up nearly half (47%) of the US labor force, but they face an expanding list of challenges in the workplace and beyond. As a result, they’re carrying a mental load that shows up in their daily work, their career trajectories, and the performance of teams.
What responsive steps can employers, consultants, and health plans take to better support women’s mental wellness? How can they deliver support that is accessible, meaningful, and sustainable for women across all life stages and career paths?
The first step is getting more insight into the threats to women’s mental well-being.
Women employees report higher rates of mental health challenges
According to Gallup, more than half of working women in the United States (51%) report feeling a lot of daily stress, while 39% of men do. Women employees consistently experience higher rates of stress, burnout, and poor mental health than men because of several challenges, including the following:
1. Rolling back of corporate diversity efforts that support women
Many employers have backtracked on programs that benefit women, including remote work arrangements, sponsorship programs, and career development, according to McKinsey research. For example, just 31% of women in entry-level positions have sponsors, while 45% of men do, which limits women’s advancement opportunities. Experiencing a lack of support is associated not just with stress but also a decline in motivation to advance.
2. Disproportionate caregiving responsibilities
Three in five family caregivers are women, and more than half—56%—are balancing caregiving with paid work. The emotional toll is significant: over 40% of women caregivers report high levels of stress; while 33% of men caregivers do. Return‑to‑office mandates only intensify the pressure, pushing many women caregivers to the point of leaving the workforce altogether.
Caregiving can also be disproportionately financially stressful for working women. Mothers see their wages decrease an average of 4% per child, while fathers’ wages increase an average of 6% per child.
What’s more, women responding to a Calm survey said they’re taking less care of their own mental health due to their focus on caregiving. Women who say they have to manage personal or family responsibilities during work, who perform job responsibilities outside working hours, and who think about work during personal time are 81% more likely to experience burnout.
3. Reproductive health challenges
For many women, experiences during the reproductive health journey—from menstruation and fertility to pregnancy, the postpartum period, and menopause—bring serious emotional and mental health challenges. Without proper support, these challenges can have a profound impact on their quality of life, health outcomes, and productivity at work.
When women’s mental wellness isn’t supported, organizational health can suffer too
Indeed, these challenges that disproportionately affect women are associated not just with stress but also with sleep issues and symptoms of anxiety and depression. It’s not surprising that 32% of women executives reported that their sleep is fair or poor, while 23% of men in the C-suite did.
Of course, all these concerns—stress, poor sleep, anxiety, and depression—have a ripple effect on productivity and performance for women and the organization.
For example,
- 48% of women who have gone through fertility treatment said it affected their ability to focus at work, and 40% said it affected relationships with coworkers;
- 81% of women with a diagnosed menstrual disorder say it negatively affects their work; and
- 63% of employee caregivers responding to a Calm survey said they’ve started work late or left early to tend to the needs of others.
Unfortunately, stigma, navigation hurdles, time constraints, financial pressures, and other barriers often keep women from seeking mental health support during these challenges.
4 steps the World Economic Forum recommends employers take to better support women’s holistic health
In an article for the Centre for Health and Healthcare, the World Economic Forum and McKinsey Health Institute outline four high‑impact actions employers should take to strengthen women’s holistic health.
1. Reduce microaggressions that erode psychological safety
The authors note that women—particularly those from marginalized communities—face more interruptions, emotional policing, and subtle bias. These daily slights heighten burnout and turnover while discouraging risk taking and open communication.
2. Expand support for caregivers
They emphasize that providing resources such as coaching can meaningfully reduce exhaustion among employee caregivers, improve retention, and positively influence business performance.
3. Increase workplace flexibility
According to the authors, remote and hybrid options, along with greater control over schedules, are among the most valued benefits. While flexibility supports all employees, it has a disproportionately positive impact on women’s mental and spiritual well‑being and significantly reduces exhaustion.
4. Provide tailored support for women’s health needs
They argue that employers can make a substantial difference by offering benefits that reflect women’s full health journeys—from menstrual and fertility support to menopause accommodations—and by fostering environments where women can speak openly about their health needs.
These recommendations give employers a clear roadmap, but putting them into practice is a challenge. This is where digital mental health solutions, such as Calm Health, can play a valuable role. They can offer scalable, holistic, evidence‑based ways to operationalize some of the authors’ suggestions, particularly when it comes to supporting caregivers and women’s unique health needs across life stages.
How Calm Health supports women’s mental wellness across life stages
Calm Health, an evidence-based digital mental health solution, features programs specifically designed to support the mental health needs of women experiencing common health challenges, such as menopause or postpartum depression, and life events, including caregiving.
Developed by psychologists with specialized expertise, Calm Health’s programs provide insights and practical tools that women can easily integrate into daily life, helping them navigate emotional and mental health challenges with greater confidence.
Select Calm Health programs for women throughout the reproductive health journey
- Infertility: Support for Your Journey
- Mental Health Support for Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Thriving Through the Menopause Transition
- Supportive Tools for Coping with Miscarriage
Select Calm Health’s evidence-based programs for caregivers
- Caring for Aging Parents with Confidence
- Support for Mothers & Caregivers
- Parenting Teens with Mental Health Conditions
These programs are bolstered by an extensive library of Calm Health programs to support people needing help with sleep, stress, anxiety, depression, building resilience, finding balance, focusing, and other goals.
Women are guided to Calm Health programs and other employer-sponsored benefits that make the most sense for them based on their Calm Health mental health screening results and self-reported goals and interests.
A call to action for consultants, employers, and health plans
Supporting women’s mental wellness is a strategic imperative for any organization committed to retention, performance, and long‑term workforce health. Employers, consultants, and health plans have the opportunity to create environments where women feel supported in every stage of life and career and where mental health resources are accessible, relevant, and easy to integrate into their daily lives without fear of shame or stigma.
By embracing evidence‑based digital tools like Calm Health, organizations can help ensure that women receive the holistic support they need. Now is the time to invest in solutions that meet women where they are and help build a healthier, more resilient workforce for everyone.
