Take a moment to digest this…

At moments of enormous personal change, many women are leaving their careers, not because they don’t want to work.

Because nobody made it possible for them to stay.

More than one in ten women leave their jobs because of menopause symptoms. This costs the British economy £1.5-£1.8 billion every year.

But the problems begin much earlier. More than a quarter of mothers either don’t return to work after maternity leave or leave within a year. Five years after their first child is born, mothers face an average monthly earnings reduction of £1,051.

The gender pay gap doesn’t appear from nowhere. It is built, year by year, through a series of “mismatches” between our narrative of equality and the reality of women’s lives.

The Blueprint of Inequality

We see this mismatch most clearly in the way we structure early parenthood.

In the UK, a woman can take a year of maternity leave – ostensibly to recover and bond. In reality, that year is often spent implementing the systems, learning the requirements, and managing the invisible “to-do list” of a household. Meanwhile, partners are legally granted just two weeks of paternity leave.

Is it any wonder, then, that while 75% of people believe housework should be shared equally, two-thirds of women report they are still the ones mainly doing it?

Why is this still happening?

Let’s be honest: we are only beginning to understand the neurological, hormonal and psychological complexity of these journeys.

Maternity leave is often treated as a pause from the mother’s career. This fails to recognise the profound shift in identity, priorities, and psychological capacity that occurs when a woman returns.

Likewise, scientific research into the perimenopause is only beginning to unlock the powerful internal changes that underlie complex behavioural, physiological and mental symptoms.

These transitions are unique to every individual. So it’s perhaps unsurprising that many organisations have struggled to keep pace by relying on a “one size fits all” approach to their policies. When those policies fail, the personal toll shows up in burnout, illness, and a quiet withdrawal from the workforce.

The myth of personal choice

When women leave their careers at moments of enormous change, it may be a personal choice.

But all too often, it isn’t.

We expect women, and their support networks, to absorb these monumental physical and psychological shifts quietly, while retaining the same levels of pace, confidence and energy as before.

Beyond the billions lost to the economy, there is a “leadership drain” that we cannot afford. When we lose women at these pivotal moments, we lose mentors, experts, and the diverse perspectives that drive innovation.

Entela’s mission: Building the Conditions to Stay

I founded Entela to bridge the gap between organisational culture and individuals needs. The problem exists at both levels, so the solution must too.

For organisations, we work with leadership teams to build cultures, policies, and practices that don’t just tolerate transition, but actively support it.

For individuals, we provide the space for women and their support networks to think, recalibrate, and move forward with compassion. We help them navigate these journeys. Not as obstacles to be overcome, but as transitions to be managed with dignity and trust.

We have the knowledge and the tools to address it. What we need is the will to change the status quo.

We tell women they can do it all. We rarely build the conditions that make it possible.

Entela exists to change that. Get in touch.