Why are so many women leaving the workforce?

212,000. THAT'S HOW MANY WOMEN AGES 20 AND OVER have left the U.S. workforce since January, according to the most recent jobs numbers released Aug. 1 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (By contrast, 44,000 men of the same age have entered the workforce since January.) The numbers are especially stark for women with children. From January to June, the labor-force participation rate of women ages 25 to 44 living with a child under 5 fell nearly 3 percentage points, from 69.7% to 66.9%, says Misty Lee Heggeness, an associate professor of economics and public affairs at the University of Kansas.

- BY ALANA SEMUELS

It's a big reversal. The participation of those women had soared in 2022, 2023, and 2024, peaking in January 2025, as flexible work policies helped women join the workforce and generate much-needed income for their families. This year, workers have seen flexibility revoked on a large scale. President Donald Trump ordered federal employees back to the office five days a week in January, and Amazon, JPMorgan, and AT&T also returned to five-day-a-week policies in 2025. Overall, full-time in-office requirements among Fortune 500 companies jumped to 24% in the second quarter of 2025, up from 13% at the end of 2024, according to the Flex Index, which tracks remote-work policies.

It's not a coincidence that women's participation in the workforce is falling as flexibility disappears, says Julie Vogtman, senior director of job quality for the National Women's Law Center. Women capitalized on remote work and flexibility during the pandemic and stopped exiting the labor force, research shows. Now, many are not able to do so.