Why are ambitious women quitting their jobs?

And are we really "leaning out"?

I woke in the night to the sound of someone desperately gasping for air, and it took more than a few seconds to realise it was me.

The year was 2019 and, just days earlier, I’d nervously handed in my resignation from my dream job; one that was objectively cool, glamorous and challenging in all the right ways. I’d been enthusiastically climbing the ladder there for 4 years while creating a podcast in pockets of time around my 9-5. Saturday nights hustling for guests. Sunday afternoons prepping questions. Watching YouTube videos into the night to learn the quickest way to trim audio and reduce white noise.

I was hopeful about going all in on my side hustle but anxiety clearly still hummed beneath the surface. Even though I believed I was moving towards something brighter, life altering decisions have a way of catching up with you in the dark.

And yet, I’m the kind of person who, once they see another way, simply cannot un-see it. I’d tasted traction with the podcast and it lingered on my tongue. Possibility stood before me, and once I realised I could take my future into my hands, I resigned and, other than a momentary midnight gasp, never looked back.

I may have been early to the quit-your-job party but in recent years, ambitious women quitting their job has become a raging affair.

More than 455k women in the USA exited the workforce in the first 8 months of 2025, and 52% of those left by choice (ie. not redundancy). McKinsey calls this the “great breakup”; an unraveling of women’s desire to fly Sheryl Sandberg’s flag and lean into grand corporate roles.

It’d be easy to adopt a simplistic view and say that one thing is driving the mass migration of women away from traditional career paths and norms, but the picture is far more complex.

Some women are simply sick of going through the motions. Managing the minutiae of getting work approved rather than actually doing the work. Having meetings about meetings about meetings. Navigating 12 stakeholders and 8 layers of management to get an inconsequential decision signed off. Waiting. Endless stretches of waiting. For something to be approved, for something to be shipped, for something to be submitted, for something to be done.

Some women are former #girlbosses who’ve spent years craning their necks and climbing no matter the cost. They’re bossing at the office, bossing at home, and crumbling under the weight of unrelenting responsibility and unreasonable expectations. These women are awakening, sometimes gasping for air, to realise that the promotion they so desperately wanted to land, the one they staked all their hopes and prayers on, well, now they hope and pray it goes to somebody else. Just so they can catch a breath.

Some women are becoming stay at home mums by choice, others because childcare is prohibitively expensive and there’s simply no other way.

Some women have been made redundant and, despite their best efforts, can’t find another role.

Then there’s a growing sliver of women - myself included - who’ve become acutely aware of another option on the table. No longer hoodwinked (or is it gaslit?) by what society proclaims is credible and legitimate, they realise that that if they have good skills and experience they can probably succeed on their own. I’m not talking about the women raising money and building startups - although I bow down to the legendary founders venturing down this path - I’m talking about the women making a conscious choice to lean out of the 9-5 and into doing things their own way.

These women are smart. They see what’s happening. For the first time, perhaps ever, a credible monetisation pathway - independent work and the portfolio career - exists outside of having a full time job or being a full blown founder.

Sparked by the pandemic, independent work has been fuelled by social media (unlimited, free distribution) and accelerated by AI (unlimited knowledge and capability). In a corporate house of cards that relies on unpaid caregiving, invisible labour and rigid hours, it’s no wonder things are starting to teeter and fall. It’s also no wonder that women are the early adopters, the ones seizing this opportunity with both hands. When a viable alternative becomes visible and available, those most suffocated by the system move first.

Now, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that this path isn’t equally available and accessible to all. Not everyone can quit their job on a whim and those who do have privilege: education, social capital, supportive partners, a financial buffer, and a sense of psychological safety that either way they’ll land on their feet.

To me, though, it’s exciting to see women leading the charge. Through their actions, through their platforms, through their voices, through the public redirection of their ambition, through leaning in (not out), and through rejecting the idea that the particular system we find ourselves in is worthy of the climb.

I often wonder how quickly society will cotton on. I wonder how long it’ll take for the mainstream to catch up. I wonder when the skeptics will admit defeat. And I wonder if, when the world inevitably has such an awakening, it will choose to stay awake.

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How writing this piece has shaped my thinking about future products and programs in real time.

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