Nature’s Role in Workplace Well-being: Insights Inspired by Matriarchal Values
In today's workplace, burnout, isolation, and disconnection from nature have become pervasive issues as symptoms of a patriarchal system that prioritizes productivity over well-being. The American Institute of Stress reports that job stress costs U.S. employers over $300 billion annually due to absenteeism, turnover, decreased productivity, and other costs. On a global scale, the World Health Organization estimates depression and anxiety cost the global economy $1 trillion annually in lost productivity. These staggering figures highlight a growing crisis: the traditional work culture is failing us. According to a 2023 survey by the American Psychological Association, 92% of workers prioritize emotional and psychological well-being in their workplace, and 95% value the respect of boundaries between work and nonwork time. This data underscores a critical need for a workplace values and culture shift.
The rise of "productivity anxiety" further illustrates the unsustainable nature of our current work environment. A recent Workhuman survey found that 80% of U.S. full-time employees experience productivity anxiety, with over one-third feeling it multiple times a week. Dr. Meisha Ann Martin, a senior director at Workhuman, describes this as a global phenomenon, particularly pronounced in the U.S., where hustle culture prevails. Our obsession with productivity often comes at the expense of well-being, leading to burnout and diminished quality of life. As we navigate this crisis, it becomes clear that a fundamental change is necessary. Drawing inspiration from matriarchal values, nature, and the latest scientific research, let’s explore how we can foster a work culture that promotes rest, creativity, and holistic well-being, benefiting not only individual employees but also the organizations they serve.
What’s a Patriarchal System?
Most of us live in patriarchal systems and societies. These male-dominant systems tend to prioritize hierarchy, dominance, extraction, being “number one”, and being “the only one”. These systems affect men, women, and everyone in between differently, but most commonly center men or male-identified people to the detriment of others. These systems also value competitiveness, stoicism, dominance, control, self-reliance, aggressiveness, productivity, and efficiency. We can see the effects of these values in the societal symptoms of declining mental health, communal disruption, increased social isolation, high rates of domestic violence, and gender-based violence.
What’s a Matriarchal System?
Alternatively, Matriarchal systems create space for everyone regardless of race, sex, class, and ethnicity to add value. Matriarch-centered design is fundamentally about designing sustainable systems and environments that allow everyone to thrive. Within matriarchal systems, men often engage in collaborative roles rather than dominant ones, focusing on community well-being alongside women and other folx. Their contributions are valued across all aspects of society, from raising kids to decision-making, within a framework emphasizing equality and mutual respect. For example: While traditional patriarchal roles often cast men primarily as warriors or defenders, in matriarchal societies, men might also be peacemakers, mediators, and defenders of the community and environment. In matriarchal settings, masculinity finds its strength in community support, empathy, and shared decision-making, contrasting sharply with the hierarchical, dominance-focused traits encouraged by patriarchal systems. Here, masculinity is seen as a force for love, nurturing, and cooperation.
Matriarchy is not to be confused with feminism. Feminism in design pushes for gender equality, challenging traditional power structures to create equitable design outcomes. It's about incorporating female perspectives, especially in spaces where women’s voices have been excluded. In more recent history ‘feminism’ in design has moved to focus on representative feminism including intersectional manifestations, such as Afrofeminism and Indigenous feminist practices, to ensure design processes and products better reflect society and diverse needs.
A Matriarchal system is led by women and operates with the core values of equality, inclusivity, collaboration, co-creation, and nurturing oneself and others. Matriarchal systems tend to be less linear than patriarchal ones, and all individuals can manifest power and agency. Matriarchy in design is all about community and building systems that are inclusive, representative, sustainable, and centered around communal well-being and environmental stewardship.
What’s the Impact of Matriarchal Systems?
Adopting matriarchal values and principles in design compels us to reconsider traditional roles, for the ‘collective better’ ensuring all voices are heard and valued in the design process. It's about creating spaces where power is distributed more equitably, and design decisions are made with a broader community in mind and involved. Through this integration, we can challenge and change the negative aspects of the status quo and use design as a powerful tool for shared social impact.
Matriarchal values are just as important in design as they are in leadership. However, less than 7% of the world’s leaders are women, and only about 10% of Fortune 500 companies are led by women. Yet during the COVID-19 pandemic of the top ten best-performing countries in terms of testing and mortality, four had women leaders. These countries included Estonia, Iceland, New Zealand, and Taiwan. Comparatively, some of the worst-performing countries were led by unapologetically old-fashioned “men’s men” including Brazil, the United Kingdom, and the United States. During the pandemic, high-performing female leaders were resolute in the face of chaos, assessed the evidence, heeded expert advice, and acted decisively.
Matriarchy in Nature
Let’s try a nature-centered approach and take inspiration from the millions of years of evolutionary design cycles that have created the world as we know it today. Have you ever considered that when you enter a forest you become a part of it? In this way, nature herself embodies the values of inclusivity, community, and equality. Exploring this idea further we can look to research that shows trees serve as matriarchal beings in the forest. These “mother trees” are anchors that house other species, connect underground through mycelium networks to share resources, and warn of predators across plants in the forest (Simard, 2021).
Speaking of supportive networks, another great example of matriarchal systems in nature is that of the honey bee. While many might equate the title of Queen Bee to a monarch system, honey bees actually work much more democratically, collaborating to co-create everything from their built environment (their hive home) to a communal immune system. We see this co-creative mindset at work in places like the MIT D-Lab where designers-in-training go into communities to learn through co-creating prototypes and solutions instead of taking a more traditional isolated approach.
Matriarchy and Cyclical Time
Linear time, driven by a push for constant productivity and focused on output, is intrinsically linked to the patriarchal system. Before the predictability of a 12-month calendar, time was marked by the lunar cycles and the changing of seasons, connecting intimately with the cycles women experience during monthly menstruation. In fact, the new year used to begin in the spring, the season of rebirth and renewal. However, in 1582 Pope Gregory VII instituted the “Gregorian” calendar as we presently know it, a structure that would ensure control and predictability of the calendar and we have continued to attempt to control time ever since, trying to eliminate seasons of rest (the fall and the winter) and optimize our productivity.
For example, in 1926 the Ford Motor Company successfully lobbied for the 8-hour workday because they determined that 8 hours of physical labor is the most you can extract from a person without diminishing returns. The adoption of daylight savings was also meant to extract additional work from humans by leveraging the additional hours of daylight for more work. Under systems of patriarchy, the emphasis on driving more and more productivity out of humans and eliminating our seasons of rest has contributed to burnout on an unprecedented scale. In 2022 the U.S. Surgeon General released the office’s first-ever framework for addressing Workplace Mental Health & Well-being to address the crisis. The problem is so pervasive that according to research, 70% of employees feel burnout every year and 95% of human resource leaders agree employee burnout is sabotaging workforce retention.
Matriarchy in Practice
As we grapple with the detrimental effects of our current work culture marked by burnout, isolation, and disconnection from nature it is clear that fundamental change is essential. The staggering costs of job stress and mental health issues underscore the urgent need to shift away from a patriarchal system that prioritizes productivity over well-being. Embracing matriarchal values offers a promising path forward.
Let’s explore some small ways we can integrate matriarchal mindsets and values into our communication, collaboration, and problem-solving. Each of us can use small moments to observe, co-create, and experiment in our own lives. This quest requires a mindset shift from “I have the answer” to “we co-create the answer” along with the following examples:
from “the idea” → to “the impact”
from “being right” to “iterating to better”
from “focusing on the solution” → to “focusing on the problem”
from “serving me” → to “serving us”
To experiment in your own life, start by looking for examples within your communities. Where do you see matriarchal values at play and where are they missing? Observe, take stock, and avoid judging the individuals, mindsets, and values you experience. Then, think about how they compare and contrast with the matriarchal values of equality, inclusivity, collaboration, co-creation, and nurturing.
Now, transition into co-creation. Grab a friend, grab a co-worker, go for a walk in the woods, and discuss what is possible, and what could be different. Once you have ideated, design a small experiment. You could try a matriarchal value for a week or set a daily reminder to write 3 matriarchal values you observed or would like to look for today.
For example, you might observe a female leader in your organization who leaves her ego out of her work and is not concerned about being right or looking good. You take note of how her team responds to her and get inspired. You decide to hand over a piece of your project to a more junior co-worker to get it started and then co-create it together instead of agonizing over it, taking too long, and thinking about it too much on your own. This will likely reduce your stress, lead to better work, and an opportunity to serve as a mentor in your office.
A Call to Action
Join us as we build a world that is more matriarch-centered. Try incorporating matriarchal values into your life through increased cycles of rest. Observe nature and design solutions that are inspired by what you see. Champion individuals who express matriarchal values and strive to express inclusivity, equality, collaboration, co-creation, and nurturing in your life. Each step you take, however small, will lead us to a more inclusive future that empowers us all. Through matriarchal values, we can reimagine our world, and change the negative aspects of the status quo and other aspects of systems that don’t work for us. When we adopt these values we can leverage design as a tool for social impact. Each of us has the power to initiate this change. By observing and incorporating matriarchal values in our daily lives and work, we can begin to dismantle the unsustainable aspects of our current systems. Simple steps, such as prioritizing rest, engaging in collaborative problem-solving, and valuing diverse perspectives, can make a significant impact.