Creating Space for Working Parents: A Community-Led Approach to Inclusion

For many women, the transition into motherhood continues to coincide with one of the most demanding phases of their professional lives. The result is a familiar pattern across markets, where women enter the workforce in strong numbers but gradually drop out at mid-career.

For Tena Pick, Founder of Coro Space, this challenge is not theoretical. It is rooted in her own experience of returning to work after the birth of her son during the pandemic, and in nearly two decades of working on gender and development issues across multiple regions.

Speaking to Collective for Equality, Tena explains that the idea for Coro Space emerged from a simple but difficult question: how can parents, especially mothers, participate fully in both professional and family life without having to separate the two?

A response to structural gaps in urban life

Tena points to a combination of infrastructure and cultural expectations that continue to limit women’s participation in the workforce, particularly in urban India.

Cities are not designed to support young families in a practical way. Everyday challenges, from mobility to access to safe and engaging spaces for children, make it difficult for parents to balance work and caregiving. At the same time, there remains a widely held expectation that one parent, usually the mother, will step away from her career for several years after having a child.

“The assumption that a parent will take time out after having a child is still deeply embedded, and it almost always falls on the mother,” she says. Coro Space was conceived as an alternative to this model. Located in Bengaluru, India, the space brings together co-working, child-friendly environments and curated community programming within a single setting.

Work, play and community under one roof

Coro operates across three core areas: work, play and community. The physical space integrates co-working areas with play zones and a café, allowing parents to move between professional and caregiving responsibilities during the day. However, Tena emphasises that the value of Coro lies beyond infrastructure. The third element, community, plays a central role in how the space functions.

Through curated programming such as entrepreneur circles, book clubs, social events and children’s activities, Coro seeks to create a support system that extends beyond individual families. Members include entrepreneurs, freelancers, family offices and small teams, many of whom are navigating similar life stages.

The model reflects a shift away from viewing work and family as separate domains, towards a more integrated approach that recognises how closely they intersect.

Tena highlights a stark statistic that continues to define the gender gap in the workforce. A large proportion of women who return to work after having children leave within the first year. She attributes this not only to policy gaps, but also to workplace culture and everyday experiences.

“There is a difference between having policies and having an environment where those policies can actually be used without judgement,” she explains.

Even where flexible work arrangements exist, subtle signals from colleagues and managers can discourage women from making use of them. Over time, this creates pressure that leads many to step away from their careers.

Coro’s approach focuses on removing this friction. By offering a space where parents can work without having to justify their responsibilities at home, it allows them to rethink how they engage with their careers.

One example is its “Returnship” programme, which provides mothers with a structured but flexible pathway to re-enter the workforce. Many participants are experienced professionals who are using this transition period to reassess their career direction, including exploring entrepreneurship.

Redefining professionalism and success

Tena also challenges traditional ideas of what professionalism looks like, noting that they are often shaped by a narrow set of assumptions. Workplaces have historically been designed around a model that does not account for caregiving responsibilities. As a result, parents are often forced to adapt themselves to systems that do not reflect their realities.

Creating alternative spaces allows for a different definition of success. Parents can remain engaged in their careers while also being present in their family lives, without having to compromise one for the other. This shift is particularly relevant at a time when working parents are spending more time with their children than previous generations, even as professional demands continue to increase.

Role of care infrastructure in gender equality

A recurring theme in Tena’s work is the importance of what she describes as “infrastructure of care”. This extends beyond childcare facilities to include environments, communities and support systems that enable individuals to participate fully in both work and family life.

She argues that cultural expectations and structural realities reinforce each other, making it difficult to break the cycle. “Culture and structure support each other, and that is why the cycle is so difficult to change,” she says.

Another aspect that remains under-recognised is the value of caregiving itself. Tena points out that all mothers work, whether in paid or unpaid roles, but caregiving labour continues to be undervalued across societies.

Addressing gender inequality therefore requires not only workplace reforms, but also a broader shift in how care work is perceived and supported.

Building from lived experience

Tena’s approach to Coro is shaped by her international experience working on gender issues across regions including the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Despite differences in geography and context, she notes that many of the challenges faced by women and parents are similar.

“The desire for a more equitable and fair world is universal,” she says. Her work now focuses on translating these insights into practical solutions at a community level.

Coro’s first centre opened in early 2025, and Tena is looking to expand the model within Bengaluru and other parts of South India. While she does not intend to scale the business to a mass-market model, the focus is on building a network of spaces that can deliver meaningful impact.

A model for the future of work

Coro’s experience suggests that rethinking physical spaces and community structures can play a role in addressing gender gaps in the workforce. By creating environments where parents can participate fully in both work and caregiving, the model challenges the assumption that one must come at the expense of the other.

For Tena, the goal is not only to expand Coro, but also to encourage similar initiatives in other cities and regions. “There should be many more spaces like this,” she says, pointing to the need for broader innovation in how societies support working families.

As organisations continue to explore flexible work models and inclusive policies, the role of physical and community infrastructure may become an increasingly important part of the conversation.