The physical challenges of giving birth, recovering and conditioning your body to return to elite sport is immense but motherhood also takes its toll emotionally – on coaches as well as players.
There are four female managers in the WSL and two of them are mothers.
Chelsea boss Hayes will leave at the end of the season to manage the US, with a better work-life balance for her son Harry, five, a factor in her decision to leave club management.
Aston Villa’s Carla Ward is also a mother and she admits the relentless nature of her role in the WSL may not be sustainable generally, despite great support from her club.
Ward lives in Sheffield with her daughter Hartley, four, and has negotiated an early finish at work every Wednesday so she can pick her up from school – but she still misses out on plenty of milestones.
“I might not see her for days and that becomes tough,” Ward said. “You do start to question whether that’s something you can do for the long term. Have I got an answer to that? No.
“Have I questioned whether I can keep doing it? Of course, because she’s my pride and joy and I want to spend time with her. It’s constantly pulling on your head and your heart.
“You go from one extreme because she loves that I’m the Aston Villa manager but doesn’t want me to go to work.
“A few months ago, Hartley said to me ‘Mamma, is it your day off today?’ And I said ‘yes’. She said ‘is it my day off too?’ I said ‘no baby, you have to go to school’. She asked why we never have a day off together and it’s because I work weekends.
“It’s mum guilt. It broke my heart. It’s when I start questioning what I’m doing and what I’m doing it for.
“There’s many times she will ask ‘can we do X, Y and Z?’ and you can’t. I miss parents’ evenings and shows. That’s the bit that I really struggle with.
“I spoke about it with Emma (Hayes). She is leaving club football and you can see why. It’s easier I suppose. It probably suits mothers being in the international set-up more than club management.”
But, while it is a taxing job, Ward sees huge benefits for Hartley.
Her daughter’s pride is Ward’s job is clear. She runs around the house wearing an Aston Villa shirt and telling everyone her mother is the club’s manager.
Ward hopes she can use that to be an inspiration for her daughter.
“I would like to think what I’m doing now is creating a foundation and a base for a better life for her,” added Ward.
“You can be a top professional and a mum. You can be a manager and a head coach.
“The one thing I always want to show – let’s be honest, there’s still a lot of people out there that don’t think women should be in football – is showing Hartley that she can be anything she wants.
“Whether that’s a police officer, a doctor, a nurse, a firefighter – as long as she puts her mind to something and has a smile on her face doing it, it will make me happy.”
You can watch more from these interviews with BBC Sport on the BBC news television channels and across multiple radio stations throughout the week.
