Since 1983, on March 12th, National Working Moms Day has recognized women who balance careers and motherhood. Founded by the American Business Women’s Association, it’s a day to celebrate the approximately 23 million working moms in the U.S. who juggle professional responsibilities and parenting.
But here’s the thing: what “working” looks like has changed dramatically in the 40+ years since this day was created. And for military spouses especially, the traditional definition of a “working mom” often doesn’t capture our reality.
When Your Answer Doesn’t Fit the Box
When someone asks me, “Do you work?” I sometimes hesitate. Not because I don’t work— trust me, I work—but because my answer doesn’t fit neatly into the boxes we’ve created around what it means to be a working mom. Also, it feels incredibly long-winded to explain everything I’m doing.
I don’t have a single employer. I don’t get a W-2 from one place. I can’t point to one job title that encompasses everything I do. And for a long time, that made me feel like maybe being a Jane of all trades wasn’t right.
My reality involves multiple leadership roles in student organizations and military family nonprofits. Life coaching as a side business and selling digital files for passive income. Contract work. School. Active job searching. Some paid, some volunteer – all demanding real time, real skill, and real commitment.
It’s a patchwork career built to survive the realities of military spouse life. And it rarely fits on a standard resume.
When “Working Mom” Doesn’t Include a Paycheck
Here’s the uncomfortable truth about being a military spouse who works: a lot of what we do doesn’t come with a paycheck, but it absolutely comes with responsibility, deadlines, and expectations. We lead organizations. We manage budgets. We coordinate teams. We show up, we deliver, and we make things happen.
But when someone asks, “What do you do?” and your answer is a patchwork of volunteer leadership roles, side businesses, and part-time gigs stitched together across multiple PCS moves…it doesn’t quite sound like the traditional working mom narrative.
We’re not climbing a corporate ladder. Instead, we’re building a new one every three years when we move. Along the way, we’re collecting adaptability, resilience, and an impressive ability to learn new systems faster than anyone thought possible.
The Invisible Resume
My resume shows gaps. It shows short tenures. It shows a path that might seem unfocused to someone unfamiliar with military spouse life.
What it doesn’t show is the years I’ve spent figuring out how to build a career without a zip code. It doesn’t show the leadership skills I’ve honed through running multiple organizations simultaneously. It doesn’t capture the creativity it takes to reinvent yourself professionally every few years while keeping your family stable through deployments, TDYs, and constant transition.
It doesn’t show that I’ve worked with children and families across multiple states, in different programs, gaining a breadth of experience that most people in traditional careers never get.
Why This Matters on National Working Moms Day
National Working Moms Day was created to recognize women who balance careers and motherhood. But decades later, what a career looks like has changed—especially for military spouses.
We need to expand the definition of working mom to include:
- The mom who pieces together three part-time remote jobs at her new duty station
- The mom whose leadership roles are all volunteer but require full-time hours
- The mom who runs a side business while job searching for something more stable
- The mom who’s back in school, investing in a degree that can move with her
- The mom whose LinkedIn profile looks scattered, but whose skills are incredibly valuable
We’re Not Waiting for Permission
I used to apologize for my non-traditional path. I’d explain away the gaps, downplay the volunteer work, and hesitate to call my business a real business.
Not anymore.
I work. I work hard. I balance more roles than I probably should. I show up for my community, my fellow military families, and my own professional growth—all while being a wife, a mom twice over, a full-time student, and whatever my community needs me to be.
And honestly? That makes me exactly the kind of working mom this day was created to celebrate.
So this National Working Moms Day, I’m raising a cup of tea to every military spouse out there whose career doesn’t fit the traditional mold. To every woman juggling multiple roles without a single employer to show for it. To everyone who’s had to explain that yes, they DO work, even if it looks different.
You’re not doing it wrong. You’re redefining what it means to work. And that deserves recognition. Happy National Working Moms Day!
Still feeling uneasy about your volunteer work? Find confidence after reading: Volunteering is Professional Work Experience
