By: David and Stephanie Eubank

March is Women’s History Month—a time to reflect not only on the achievements of women throughout history, but also on the systems and structures that continue to shape women’s access to work, opportunity, and economic security. One of the most transformative workplace shifts of the past decade has been the rise of remote work. For many women—especially neurodivergent women and those balancing unpaid caregiving—remote work is not a perk or preference. It is a structural accommodation that makes workforce participation sustainable and, in many cases, possible at all.

Research consistently shows that women perform the majority of unpaid caregiving labor in the United States. According to the National Partnership for Women & Families (2025), women account for approximately two‑thirds of all unpaid caregiving, contributing nearly 300 hours per year on average to caring for children, spouses, aging parents, and family members with disabilities. This labor is economically significant—valued at more than $1.1 trillion annually—yet it remains largely invisible and unsupported by traditional workplace models. For neurodivergent women, this burden often intersects with their own access needs, sensory considerations, and executive functioning demands, compounding systemic inequities.

Unpaid caregiving has direct consequences for women’s careers, financial security, and professional identity. The U.S. Department of Labor (2023) reports that women—particularly older women—are more likely to reduce work hours, decline promotions, or exit the workforce entirely due to caregiving. These disruptions exacerbate gender pay gaps, limit leadership representation, and undermine long‑term retirement stability. Neurodivergent women experience these penalties at even higher rates, as rigid schedules, overstimulating office environments, and inflexible productivity norms often fail to accommodate how they work best.

Remote work has emerged as one of the most effective mechanisms for addressing these layered inequities. For caregivers, flexible and location‑independent roles reduce the structural penalties associated with managing multiple responsibilities. For neurodivergent workers, remote work offers control over sensory input, work pacing, communication modalities, and energy management—factors that directly affect performance and sustainability. Research from AARP and S&P Global (2024) shows that caregivers with access to flexible or remote work are significantly more likely to remain employed, report better work‑life integration, and experience lower stress levels.

The technology industry provides a powerful case study in how policy decisions around flexibility disproportionately affect women and marginalized workers. In 2013, Yahoo became the first major tech company to mandate a full return to in‑office work, eliminating remote options under then‑CEO Marissa Mayer. This decision disproportionately impacted women—particularly working mothers, caregivers, and neurodivergent employees who relied on flexibility to remain productive and employed (Time, 2013; CNBC, 2013). Rather than improving collaboration, the policy accelerated attrition.

More than a decade later, the lesson remains clear. When organizations remove flexibility, women leave—not because they lack skill or ambition, but because workplace systems are designed around narrow assumptions of ability and availability. Remote work reframes productivity around outcomes rather than presence, affirming that professionalism is not tied to sensory tolerance, extroversion, or constant visibility.

As we honor Women’s History Month, it is critical to recognize remote work as a continuation of women’s advocacy—particularly for neurodivergent women and caregivers. When work is designed for access, organizations gain resilience, talent, and sustainability. When work works for neurodivergent women, it works better for everyone.

References

AARP & S&P Global. (2024). Working while caregiving: It’s complicated. https://www.aarp.org/press/releases/2024-5-16-us-workforce-report-70-caregivers-difficulty-balancing-career-caregiving-responsibilities.html

National Partnership for Women & Families. (2025). Unpaid caregiving in the U.S. valued at more than $1.1 trillion. https://nationalpartnership.org/news_post/unpaid-caregiving-valued-at-more-than-1-trillion-per-new-analysis/

U.S. Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau. (2023). Older women and unpaid caregiving in the United States. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WB/WBIssueBrief-OlderWomenAndUnpaidCaregiving.pdf

Time Magazine. (2013, February 26). Memo read round the world: Yahoo says no to working at home. https://business.time.com/2013/02/26/memo-read-round-the-world-yahoo-says-no-to-working-at-home/

CNBC. (2013, February 22). Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer cracks down on remote workers. https://www.cnbc.com/2013/02/22/yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-cracks-down-on-remote-workers-report.html