In the wake of a pandemic that has significantly impacted working women, LinkedIn is finally enabling its users to better represent their work histories. Many dedicated caregivers—moms, dads, and even grandparents—who paused their careers to care for children have long sought more inclusive options to reflect their caregiving hiatus on their profiles. Now, stay-at-home parents can update their LinkedIn profiles with new titles that acknowledge their important roles.
It took a global crisis for this change to materialize. According to Fortune, LinkedIn will no longer require résumé entries like “stay-at-home dad” to be linked to a traditional employer. This is a welcome shift for those who have stepped away from the workforce—especially considering that a staggering 2.3 million women have exited the job market in the past year due to factors like school and daycare closures.
Heather Bolen, in her Medium article titled “How a Simple Platform Fix Can Help Millions of Women Trying to Re-enter the Workforce,” remarked on LinkedIn’s outdated profile options. “It’s astonishing that there are no pre-populated options on LinkedIn for maternity leave, parental leave, or other essential breaks,” she pointed out. Bolen expressed her hope that it wouldn’t take a pandemic for platforms like LinkedIn to recognize the realities of caregiving.
LinkedIn’s new titles, including “stay-at-home mom,” aim to help parents and caregivers more accurately describe their time away from paid employment. Bef Ayenew, LinkedIn’s director of engineering, explained that these updates have been in the pipeline for some time, emphasizing the need to normalize employment gaps to facilitate more productive hiring conversations.
In addition to the new titles, LinkedIn will feature dedicated sections for users to document employment gaps, allowing them to select from ten different categories like “family leave” and “hospital leave.” Another significant upgrade includes a new field for users to include their gender pronouns, a change that many have been advocating for.
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In summary, LinkedIn is evolving to include more inclusive titles for caregivers, reflecting the critical roles they play. This change is particularly timely given the ongoing challenges faced by many parents during the pandemic. By allowing users to accurately portray their experiences and breaks, LinkedIn aims to create a more equitable platform for all.