This Women’s History Month, we celebrate women's vital role in shaping American history. Women have also been instrumental in shaping and progressing the workplace mental health movement in the U.S. and worldwide. And it’s not an easy feat.
Biases and stereotypes against women in the workplace are deep-seated and remain formidable. For every 100 men promoted from entry-level to manager, 87 women are promoted. For women of color, only 73 are promoted. This number is far less for LGBTQ+ women, especially transgender women. Women earn an average of 82% of what men earn.
Importantly, many women may also not be inclined to “other” themselves further by disclosing a mental health challenge.
Our 2023 Mental Health at Work report found that women were more likely to say work and the workplace harmed their mental health and were more likely to leave roles for mental health reasons voluntarily. This finding isn’t surprising given the continued male-dominant business sector.
Despite this, in our work at Mind Share Partners, we see women across industries, roles, and identities sharing their mental health stories and advocating for mental health at work.
Celebrating Women’s Mental Health Stories
This Women’s History Month, we want to acknowledge a few women who are courageously sharing their mental health stories and redefining what it means to be a great leader.
Morra Aarons-Mele is an author, the host of The Anxious Achiever Podcast, Founder and Consultant. Read her story> Follow her on LinkedIn>
Meredith Arthur is the Chief of Staff, TwoTwenty at Pinterest. She is also an author and founder of Beautiful Voyager. Watch her story> Follow her on LinkedIn>
As these women show, storytelling and role-modeling reduce the historic taboo around challenges like anxiety and depression and show it’s possible to thrive professionally with a mental health challenge. When women share their mental health stories at work, it creates safety, especially for other women, to do the same and get the support they need.
About the Author
Nina Tomaro, Marketing and Communications Lead, Mind Share Partners
As Mind Share Partners' Marketing and Communications lead, Nina develops and drives the organization's content marketing strategy. As one of the organization's early team members, Nina has a deep breadth of knowledge about workplace mental health and drives the creation of Mind Share Partners resources to support organizations in creating mentally healthy workplace cultures.