Motherhood is the reason I am an entrepreneur: The LittleOak Company founder Elke Pascoe

Motherhood is the reason I am an entrepreneur. Yet, for so many women around the world, motherhood serves as a formidable barrier to their career progression and earning potential.

Women pay a high price for growing their families while in the workforce; in fact, a 2022 study finds that their earnings fall by 55% in the first five years of parenthood.

Following my challenges with breastfeeding and my son’s serious intolerance to standard formula (which I used while I juggled work and mothering), I set out to create a formula that parents could wholeheartedly rely on. In a market where numerous infant formulas are marketed by men to women, I felt compelled to offer something different — a significantly more natural and nutritious product, lovingly crafted by a mother, for mothers everywhere.

And as with any startup, there was great financial pressure, both professionally and personally. When I founded The LittleOak Company back in 2016 as a solo mum, I threw every last dollar I had into it and then some. And so, the battle to secure funding began.

I poured all my money into LittleOak while also working to attract partners who shared my vision. It’s no secret that there is a significant and pervasive gender disparity in entrepreneurship. Female-led startups, on average, raise less capital than male-only-led companies at all stages of funding, with women participating in fewer deals as they move through the funding stages. In fact, during the 2021-2022 financial year, VC investment in Australia reached $10 billion, yet only $70 million of that total was invested in startups run by women.

Further, women are consistently under-represented in leadership roles, the c-suite and the boardroom and, undeniably, face an uphill battle in growing their professional careers. This skewed playing field is made all the more prominent for working mothers who, in my view, have the hardest job in the world.

Being a mother is hard. Starting a company or holding down a job is hard. And when you combine them both without the necessary systems of support, we put women at risk mentally, physically and professionally. My recent return from maternity leave prompted a very deep reflection on the significant hurdles faced by working mums. From carrying the mental load of the household to being dubbed the default caregiver – and then coming back to work only to be paid less upon your return – it’s nothing short of shocking.

So, change is needed… and for several reasons.

Firstly, without meaningful change, the results are likely to be catastrophic. Take for example, what is happening in South Korea. As a country, they currently have the lowest birth rate in the world, largely because women can’t afford to have babies; they also want to return to work, but without a reliable, affordable childcare structure they simply can’t have the lifestyle they want. The result? Their plummeting birth rate is expected to fall by another 8% this year and by 2100 their population will be less than half of what it is today.

Secondly, while I acknowledge that the issue of assisting mums back into the workplace isn’t straightforward, there are some obvious solutions. Nordic countries, for example, are fantastic places to live if you’re a working mum. Norway’s parental leave scheme of 49 weeks, for instance, not only supports women’s economic potential and career progression but also reduces the burden on women as the default caregivers by reserving 15 weeks for each parent. And while we have made progress here in Australia, might we explore more substantive change, like those solutions offered in the Nordic countries? Otherwise, it seems that we simply nibble around the edges of any real and meaningful policies.

Despite all of these challenges, the passion and purpose intrinsic to being a mum drove me to start LittleOak, and for that, I remain eternally grateful for the resilience that I built through the juggle and the struggle. I had a strong sense of purpose that pushed me through those turbulent early days. When you’re in that startup stage, you play every role at work (and then every role at home). I was Elke the founder, Elke the copywriter, Elke the marketer, Elke the salesperson, Elke the fundraiser…and then I was Elke the mother.

It was tough but it was also enormously satisfying. My kids were, and still are, amazing. And while they’ve spent years with a stressed and distracted mum, they still wrap their arms around me and tell me how proud they are.

My journey as a mother and entrepreneur has certainly not been easy. Yet, as I reflect on the state of gender equality in Australia today, one thing is abundantly clear: women possess boundless potential but are let down by the systems and structures that surround them. As a business leader catering primarily to women, I’m committed to being their allies not just in their feeding journeys but also in the broader experience of being a working, or indeed, an entrepreneurial mum in today’s world.

This article was first published by Women’s Agenda.