Shifting Priorities: Women’s Careers Across Life Stages
A few weeks ago, I took on an engagement with a CEO who was looking for help on some big strategic questions. The work was timely and fascinating, just the kind of challenge I enjoy. What gave me pause was the time commitment. It was a fast-moving project that would demand a lot of focus in a short window.
Earlier in my career, my decision-making calculus was different. In my full-time roles, urgent projects came with the territory. Long hours and intense work were simply part of the job in the industries I worked in. The focus was on delivering, building skills and building credibility so I could continue to advance professionally.
At this stage of my journey, I have the chance to weigh opportunities differently. I look for work that feels meaningful, aligns with my values and fits with the other parts of life that matter to me. While an intense time commitment was required in this potential engagement, the project checked all those boxes, so I said yes, but with a more deliberate mindset than I had earlier in my path.
This shift highlights a reality that often gets lost in conversations about women at work. Too often, women are spoken of as if they are one group with fixed ambitions and needs. In truth, women’s priorities change significantly over time. These shifts reflect not only personal growth but also life stage, caregiving demands and health transitions. In a world of economic disruption, hybrid work and changing workplace norms, recognizing this evolution is essential if organizations want women to thrive throughout their careers.
Early career: Building and signaling
In the early years, priorities often revolve around building credibility and signaling potential to leaders. McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2024 report shows that inequities begin early. For every 100 men promoted into management, only 81 women are. Women of color, particularly Black women and Latinas, face even steeper barriers. Nearly half of women under 30 say their age has cost them opportunities, suggesting they are penalized not just for gender but for youth.
Recent research, “Breaking Barriers: A Review of Career Transition Trends for Women,” published in Open Psychology Journal offers framing here that supports the priorities of building and signaling. That research indicates that what helps most are rotational roles, transparent pay, visible mentors and stretch assignments that come with support rather than sink-or-swim tests.
Mid-career: Advancing sustainably
By mid-career, many women are juggling peak growth years with caregiving responsibilities. Priorities shift from proving competence to advancing sustainably, growing without burning out. Yet support is often thin. According to the McKinsey study, fewer than half of women say their managers help them advance. For women of color, that figure is even lower. Microaggressions such as being interrupted, mistaken for junior staff or having competence questioned add to the challenge.
Here, many women need support in achieving advancement that is durable and lasting. The right supports include calibrated sponsorship, hybrid autonomy and leadership opportunities timed around caregiving realities. These are not special accommodations. They are structural enablers that allow women’s talent to translate into leadership.
Senior leadership: Impact and legacy
At the top levels, representation is improving but uneven. According to McKinsey’s report, women now hold 29% of C-suite roles, up significantly from 17% in 2015. However, women of color still account for only 7%. Much of the progress has come from staff functions such as HR or legal, rather than the operational seats that lead to CEO pipelines.
For many senior women, priorities revolve around creating impact and legacy, including strategic scope, board readiness, values alignment and succession planning. Companies can support this by offering board-readiness programs, flexible but high-impact roles and executive coaching that balances professional influence with personal sustainability.
Life beyond work, the hidden driver
At every stage, priorities are shaped by life outside the office. Women are still more likely than men to shoulder the majority of household responsibilities, and this burden has grown since 2016. Hybrid and remote work are especially valuable here, helping women manage competing demands while reducing burnout. Life stages such as fertility care, parental leave, menopause or elder care all reshape priorities, yet too often workplace systems are blind to these realities.
Policies like returnships, caregiver leave, and stigma-free health accommodations are not perks. “Return-to-work programs provide access to a high-quality, diverse talent pool while simultaneously signaling to current employees and alumni that their company is forward-thinking and employee-centric,” says Carol Fishman Cohen in a recent Harvard Business Review article. “These programs have grown dramatically over the past 20 years, and many more companies can benefit from launching one.” For many employees, these programs may mean the difference between retention and attrition.
The big picture
The research is clear: Women remain ambitious at every career stage. But ambition is filtered through life stages, systemic barriers and shifting definitions of success. What matters most is not whether women are ambitious, but whether workplaces are designed to meet them where they are.
When I think back to my younger self, saying yes to everything, chasing advancement for money and validation, and equating exhaustion with success, I see someone whose priorities were shaped by necessity. Today, my decisions are guided by different obligations: caregiving, sustainability and impact. I feel fortunate. My ambition has not disappeared; it has matured. The real work, for individuals and organizations alike, is to honor that evolution and create room for women’s priorities to shift without penalty.
I reached out to leaders to ask them about their priorities and what support they need in their careers at their particular stage in life.
Jessica Adams, web and marketing specialist, Greater Des Moines Partnership
At this stage in my career and life, I want to be in a workplace and a community that values and supports creativity. Flexibility is a big part of that, having the space to try new things and show up authentically, because I’m still discovering who I am and who I want to be. I’m intentional with my time so I can stay focused on the milestones and goals I’ve set for myself, while continuing to surround myself with people who challenge me to grow personally and professionally. Everything I do revolves around my priorities: my faith, my family and my journey. Looking ahead, I hope to mentor other young women as they begin their journeys, just as I’ve been fortunate to have mentors who continue to support me in mine.
April King, vice president, chief human resources officer, Wellabe
It is such a fun time in my career lifecycle. The ability to lead a high performing team and talent initiatives across Wellabe is an incredible opportunity. At home, I have two middle-schoolers and am managing the changing of schools, emotions and clothing choices. Many other women in this career stage are also taking on additional responsibilities of aging parents, single parenting or other caregiving opportunities.
At this stage in my career and life, I need trust and autonomy to do my job well, I need flexibility to make sure my other responsibilities always feel like a priority (even when work takes precedence), and I need to give and receive humility, empathy and encouragement. Workplaces can support these needs by offering creative benefits, flexible scheduling when applicable and transparent communication.
Megan Milligan, CEO, Anawim Housing
As I enter a new job with Anawim Housing, my top priority with my career is to create an infrastructure that can sustain the organization for generations to come. Affordable housing is a critical and permanent need and it’s an honor to craft a body of work that can live past my time as an active leader. Personally, I recognize I’m in my peak earning, saving and investing years and I need to lean into my potential so that in 15 to 20 years, I can comfortably step out and lean into something new of my choosing.
Abi Reiland, president, commercial real estate – Sara Hopkins Real Estate Team
My top priorities right now are staying deeply engaged in my community, collaborating with people and organizations I genuinely believe in – especially female founders, small businesses and nonprofits – keeping my health front and center, and being fully present with my family.
To honor those priorities, I need a workplace that supports me as a whole human – not just as a professional. That means encouraging growth and ambition while respecting boundaries and balance. When I’m supported in all areas of life, I show up sharp, focused and ready to crush goals. And I’m fortunate enough to be surrounded by a group of women who do just that.
Susan Voss, board of directors, Everlake Life Insurance Co., United Fire Group, NCCI and Simpson College
My professional career has bounced from state government lawyer and insurance commissioner to private sector lawyer. I retired in 2019 and am now in my “Third Chapter of Life,” I am enjoying my time as a consultant and member of several for-profit boards and a few not-for-profit boards. The work keeps me current and relevant about issues affecting a variety of topics but above all else, it allows me the ability to contribute my time, talent and treasure in this crazy world in which we live.
The greatest joy about this stage of life is the ability to “give back.” For years I scrimped and saved as a public servant, always making sure we kept funds aside for college and retirement. There was not a lot left over to give fully to those causes for which we believed, including our church. And then as I entered my 60s, the opportunity to serve on for-profit boards and establish a consulting business provided me with the ability to contribute as I had never been able to do before.
Along with my husband, Carl, we have been able to assist our children in their projects and help with savings plans for our grandchildren. To see them thrive is a treasure as a parent and grandparent! It is also a joy and a blessing to support worthy groups like our church and the arts in our community but also areas of need such as homelessness, programs for our youth, and immigrant issues.
At this stage, your family and friends are your biggest supporters and I want to be there for them as well. What you give will come back to you tenfold. I believe that. I may not be able to change the world with my gifts but perhaps I can put a few dents in it!
