About The Study

Working moms are crucial for Arkansas’s economy, yet they face mounting pressures that threaten their workforce participation and financial stability. Rising child care costs and inflexible workplace policies have created a perfect storm that is contributing to women opting out of the labor force—with significant consequences for Arkansas families, businesses, and the state’s economic potential. The Women’s Foundation of Arkansas and Ingeborg Investments commissioned this study to learn more about how working moms are holding it all together and what we as a state can do to respond to their needs for workplace flexibility, affordable child care, paid leave, and a supportive village.

About the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas 

Founded in 1998, the mission of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas (WFA) is to ensure economic security for Arkansas women and girls through collaboration and focused philanthropic investment. Through grant making, research, and the Girls of Promise® and Women Empowered initiatives, the WFA is investing in real solutions that allow women and girls to move up the economic ladder and reach their fullest potential. The WFA is the only statewide foundation that focuses solely on women and girls in Arkansas. Learn more at womensfoundationarkansas.org. 

About Ingeborg Initiatives 

Ingeborg Initiatives was founded by Olivia Walton and is dedicated to empowering mothers in the state of Arkansas by improving maternal health, advancing women’s economic opportunity and expanding access to quality care and early learning opportunities for children. “Ingeborg” is the namesake of Olivia’s maternal grandmother. The name and its personal significance embody the organization’s mission to empower mothers in Arkansas. Learn more at ingeborginitiatives.com. 

Here’s what we learned

• Arkansas moms want to work – and are working.
• Child care costs are a critical barrier to employment
• Flexible hours is the most desired workplace support.
• Maternal leave is inadequate.
• The invisible mental load is real and unsustainable.

Bottom Line

The evidence is compelling: child care access, workplace flexibility, and paid family leave are not “women’s issues” – they are workforce, economic development, and competitiveness issues.

“If you lose child care, you’re not going to be able to [be financially stable] because you can’t work the jobs that we have in this area and pay for two or three kids to go to daycare. It’s just impossible.”

Working Moms Dashboard

• Arkansas moms are working. Check your county or region’s labor force participation rates of moms.
• Arkansas moms are spending a lot of their income on child care. See how much working moms are spending on one infant in child care.

To further navigate dashboard, check out our dashboard guide.

Meet Working Moms