Hi Playmakers,

I used to think I knew what being busy meant. Then my beautiful baby Roman entered my life. Even though my husband, Pav, and I split all duties from growing my businesses to parenting, there simply isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done. And we’ve been fortunate. We have the luxury of working from home and setting our own schedules.

Managing a $23M VC fund. Maintaining our real estate business. Growing this newsletter and my online presence. Feeding the baby every 2-3 hours.

How have we allowed ourselves to create a society where the average family requires both parents to work just to get by? Settle in, today’s newsletter is a long one…

Here’s a hot take: we’re in a full-blown population crisis. No, I’m not talking about too many people on Earth. I’m talking about too few babies being born. I know what you’re thinking, which is probably the same reaction I first had to the projections: “We have too many people hurting the planet. This is a good thing.” Except it’s not. A large aging population, supported by a shrinking young (working) population, essentially breaks society.

Take South Korea, for example. They’re leading the charge globally with a replacement rate of only 0.75 children per woman. A stable society requires a rate of 2.1 or the demographics pyramid inverts, creating a large population of aging (non-working) people being supported by a smaller population of young (working) people.

This spells disaster for society, requires younger people to pay higher taxes, support aging relatives, and ultimately have less or no children of their own (and less money to spend in order to support the economy.) This is a negative feedback loop that is difficult to reverse once it begins, and it’s happening around the world.

… which brings me to the She-cession.

An estimated 455,000 women in the US left the workforce from January through August of this year. Only the pandemic saw higher numbers since the BLS started tracking the number in 1948. In fact, women with a bachelor’s degree or higher and with children under five are leaving the workforce at twice the pace of anyone else.

Why? Well, there are multiple perspectives to the reason: a stagnating financial picture for average Americans, as well as child care deserts. The one emerging factor that cannot be ignored is that child care costs continue to rise, increasing by 29% from 2020 to 2024 (no doubt affected by private equity consolidation in daycare chains across high-income cities — but that’s a story for a different day).

Put simply, it makes more sense for one parent, typically the mother, to stay home rather than be away from their children and put most of their income towards child care. In the 90s, my family made this choice, too, with my blind father becoming my stay-at-home dad. Today, however, the worsening childcare crisis causes many families to either end up making less money (bad for the economy), spend less time with their kids (bad for families), or decide not to have children at all (bad for humanity.)

I see this in my own daily life as a millennial mom. The financial cost of parenting and childcare is — time and time again — the top issue as to why or why not my friends decide to have kids. Increasingly, many people see children as a luxury afforded only to those in the top percent of the country or as a choice between career and family.

Many millennials are now “repatriating” to their hometowns from high-cost of living regions to be near their family to alleviate childcare costs or to allow themselves to have a parent stay home altogether. This comes with a clear career opportunity cost, which is often shouldered by the mother, particularly now that remote work has shifted back in-office.

It’s thus no surprise that those who do have children tend to do it later when they have established careers and more financial means — 2023 was the first year in American history where more children were born to mothers over 40 than teenage mothers.

The good news is, we can solve this problem, and many initiatives around the world are already taking shape in order to better support families:

Poland signed into law a new bill that removes income tax entirely for parents with two or more children.

Hungary has implemented all sorts of initiatives, from lump sums of cash to preferred mortgage rates if citizens buy homes and promise to have children.

China has launched annual baby subsidies per child, literally paying you cash every single year for every child you have.

This is on top of global initiatives to expand paid parental leave, subsidize child care costs, and provide subsidized or free early childhood education. Each of these topics requires an entire newsletter in itself.

Nonetheless, the US continues to be the only developed nation in the world to offer no federal paid parental leave.

While government policy plays a huge role, the private sector can — and should — step up, too. A few companies are already proving what’s possible when employers take working families seriously. Businesses can afford to invest in parents, if they choose to.

Microsoft offers one of the most comprehensive childcare systems in America, giving employees up to 200 hours of backup care and subsidized daycare tuition every year. Bank of America provides a monthly childcare stipend — up to $275 per child — directly into parents’ pockets. And Patagonia, the gold standard for decades, runs its own onsite childcare centers that have helped the company retain nearly 100% of new mothers.

This is only the start of the conversation, and we all know this problem can be solved. But can the US get it together and start implementing solutions for women and their families?

So, let’s kick off the conversation.

Are you experiencing this, too? I’d love to hear your thoughts on it on LinkedIn — as always, make sure to tag me, so I can respond.

Jenny

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Julia co-founded Eventbrite alongside her husband Kevin Hartz and engineer Renaud Visage.

One day, the company made a bold and unusual decision: Kevin stepped down as CEO and encouraged Julia to take the reins — a move almost unheard of in Silicon Valley, where male founders rarely hand over power.

Meet Julia Hartz, Co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite.

This week, let’s focus on family. Sure, that might be your immediate family, but it can also be those we love so dearly we consider them family. Who do you consider to be a part of your family?

One thing I’ve learned is that it’s easy to take the ones we love for granted, especially when we get to see them day in and day out. But we are so fortunate to have even one special person in our lives. They should know how we feel about them.

This week’s challenge is simple: Tell someone you consider family how much they mean to you and why.

This week’s spotlight features a throwback for many of us: Dylan Sprouse. Look familiar? Along with his twin brother, he starred in Nickleodeon’s The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, but if you’re like me, you might remember him as Ross’ beloved son, Ben, in Friends.

So, why are we talking about Cole this week?

While attending the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show to support his wife, Barbara Palvin, Dylan made headlines by spreading awareness about endometriosis and his wife’s battle with the disease. More and more, men are helping spread awareness for this crippling disease affecting over 200 million women worldwide and up to 20% of all American women.

Endometriosis (endo) is a chronic disease where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows in other places in the body. There is currently no cure for endo, and this crippling disease can cause severe pain, organ failure, infertility, and other lifelong issues.

This one is personal for me: my best friend has endo. My mother-in-law has endo. My grandmother had endo, which led to a hysterectomy in her 20s, before adopting my father.

Like Dylan, someone you love has endo, too. Learn more here.

Want to be featured next?

Make sure to tag @Jenny Stojkovic on your post for a chance to be featured.

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The Wednesday Play isn’t just a newsletter — it’s a community. I’ll be announcing much more in coming weeks and months! For now, let’s connect across social.

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