At the end of every season of life and work as women and moms, we can find ourselves literally adrift, both professionally and personally. Somewhere amid the tension, the apprehension and anticipation, we end up in this random place between passively surfing the waves of the season’s transition and keeping ourselves from desperately drowning in the riptide created by it…Often, this also signals a time of reinvention.  

For women, reinvention in general, and career reinvention in particular, is a familiar, albeit often silenced, necessity. Women’s personal and professional journeys are seldom linear; but rather always marked with detours, bends, pauses and new beginnings of all kinds. From stepping into motherhood to journeying through menopause, through shifting careers and life seasons, women’s work constantly demands reinvention.

THE VARIOUS SEASONS OF A WOMAN’S CAREER

According to Donald Super’s lifespan-life space theory, “ a career is defined as the combination and sequences of roles played by a person during the course of a lifetime.” Super’s theory defines different career development stages, including growth, exploration, establishment, maintenance, and disengagement. 

While the theory originally applied to men’s careers, some key elements can be applied to women’s careers. These include the self-concept, or the notion that career choice results from an individual’s evolving values, perceived abilities, and interests. This is especially relevant to women, whose identity keeps evolving over time, from youth to marriage, motherhood, menopause, and everything in between. The life-space concept, which places an individual’s career as part of their life space, is also reflective of women balancing multiple, interconnected roles in their lives and work. Career adaptability is another concept reflecting the many career transitions, changes and interruptions occurring in women’s careers. Finally, the concept of “recycling” lends itself to women’s non-linear career paths, including employment gaps and breaks. 

As such, research based on Super’s theory has identified three phases in women’s careers:

  • The idealistic achievement phase (ages 24 to 35) marked by early career ambition and the desire for achievement and success.
  • The pragmatic endurance phase (ages 36 to 45) during which women balance multiple responsibilities and demands from work, home as well as the community;
  • The reinventive contribution phase (ages 46 to 60), marked by a focus to contribute though work, family and community.

Understanding these seasons is crucial to promoting women’s career success, while caring for their well-being through the different phases of their lives. And this is especially relevant in the tumultuous times we’re living in, as women’s careers face persisting barriers and obstacles.

THE CURRENT CONTEXT WE LIVE IN

In 2025 alone, 212,000 women, ages 20 and over, have already left the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is in stark contrast to statistics revealing the entry of 44,000 men in the workforce since January 2025. As a result, women’s labor force participation rate has dropped from 69.7% to 66.9% between January and June 2025. This decrease coincides with the recent rollback of flexible and remote work policies negatively impacting mothers and caregivers, as the Flex Index reports an 11%  jump in Fortune 500 companies’ full-time office requirements in Q4 2024. Yet, post-COVID19 research shows return-to-office policies actually hurt productivity, innovation and competitiveness. 

While women’s labor participation rates are dropping, childcare costs are rising to astronomical levels amidst declines in federal childcare funding and mass deportations affecting childcare providers. The Center for American Progress reveals in its 2024 Review of Child Care and Early Learning in the United States that women disproportionately suffer career and pay cuts to make up for childcare deficiencies. According to a March 2025 Economic Policy Institute press release, childcare costs now exceed public college tuition in 38 U.S. states and Washington DC. 

Amid all this economic uncertainty and political upheaval, structural challenges affecting women’s careers persist. From the motherhood penalty to the broken rung phenomenon, not to mention the unequitable distribution of household labor, women still face sizable professional obstacles. Even among women who opt out of the traditional workforce to start their own business, gender discrimination rears its ugly head in the form of funding gaps and increased penalties for women entrepreneurs

Now more than ever, especially in our current political, economic, and social contexts, it is crucial to understand the intricacies of women’s careers.

REINVENTING WOMEN’S CAREERS

So how can women reinvent their careers through the various seasons of their lives and work, especially in the transitional times we’re living in?

Here are three questions that can help in the process:

  1. What season of life and work am I in?

Knowing what season of life and work we are in can go a long way toward devising an appropriate strategy to reinvent ourselves as women. What worked at the beginning of our careers will not work after kids, or through midlife. To each season, its needs, requirements and specificities. Beyond women’s career phases (idealistic achievement, pragmatic endurance, and reinventive contribution phases), there are also seasons that are unique to each and every woman, both personally and professionally. Being able to identify these and be aware of how they impact us, what they demand of us, and how best we can tackle them, is key.

  • What do I need in this season?

Putting our masks on first as women in and outside of work is not an indulgence, but a necessity. Too many women burn out under the constant pressure of prioritizing others before themselves, risking their health, sanity and the very contributions they bring to society. This is where asking ourselves what we need in the particular season of life we’re in becomes crucial. 

Some seasons require more support than others. Certain phases of life and work demand different sets of skills, and entirely different mindsets and ideas. Taking a reflective stance to literally putting our masks on first is indispensable to becoming the version of ourselves we need in the moment. 

  • What are the systemic, structural and organizational opportunities and barriers that I am facing and how can I leverage them?

To blind ourselves to the fact that there are no external factors affecting us in and outside of the workplace is to proverbially bury our heads in the sand. While much of the feminist propaganda of our times has urged women to literally change themselves to “succeed”, the reality is, little has been done to address the biggest change factors out there. These include the systemic, structural and organizational barriers women face day in and day out, from gender discrimination to sexism and overarching patriarchy. The systemic, organizational and structural systems of power that keep setting women back not only do exist, but they are also perpetuated by the misplaced focus on women”s perceived weaknesses or inabilities. 

Understanding what these barriers are, as well as what opportunities exist to counteract them, is key to re-imagine how women can thrive in authentic and purposeful careers. 

IN CONCLUSION

Somewhere between surfing the waves of the season’s transition and keeping ourselves from desperately drowning in the riptide created by it, there is a middle ground after all. That of understanding that unlike the traditionally masculine stereotype of linear careers, women’s careers are affected by different seasons and phases. They also require different paradigms, models and systems than the ones we’ve been accustomed to for centuries. Only when we understand, accept and implement these, can we begin reinventing women’s careers for the better…

The Corporate Sis.