This article originally appeared in Forbes.

McDonald’s flipped its golden arches to celebrate International Women’s Day on social media and at the Lynwood, California restaurant to a “W” for women. This symbolic gesture may catch consumers’ eyes and lead a few to purchase more Happy Meals. But it’s also a chance to recognize how McDonald’s helps women, and men, by offering economic opportunity.

The McDonald’s International Women’s Day webpage features the stories of eight women, from former part-time workers to franchise owners. Here’s Yazmin Bedoy’s story:

Yazmin found guidance under a strong, successful woman and rose to become one herself. Like many teenagers her age, she took a part-time job in college for extra money. While working as a McDonald’s crew member, she found guidance and mentorship under the restaurant’s owner, Nicole. This relationship eventually led her to change her college major and pursue a management career at the restaurant. After several promotions—one of which occurred while she was eight months pregnant—she is now one of the youngest general managers in her city, running a large, successful location in LA.

Bedoy likely started out making minimum wage and didn’t bring much (or any) work experience to the job. McDonald’s could afford to hire her and provide training. Like any of us, Bedoy surely would have liked more dollars in her first paycheck, but this job was about more than just money. It was a first step on her career ladder. She had the opportunity to learn skills and build relationships. And she did that. She is now a general manager. Without the entry level wage rung, she might never have found a way up that ladder.

The Fight for $15 effort advocates raising the minimum wage to $15, directly challenging companies like McDonald’s for their entry level wages. The Fight for $15 website includes a call to action:

McDonald’s: Fast-food workers deserve $15 an hour and a union so we can pay our rent and support our families. Agree? Add your name now.

When asked for a comment on the impact of increasing the minimum wage on women workers, Fight for $15 provided a quote from Alexis Harrison, a McDonald’s worker from Riverview, Florida. Harrison wants additional economic benefits for workers:

“[McDonald’s] should offer paid leave so working moms can take care of sick children. It should provide child care, cover the cost of mammograms, or offer even basic health care so we can raise our families. And McDonald’s should pay its majority female workforce a living wage. That’s why we’re fighting not just for $15 an hour, but for the right to a union so women can demand real protections and respect from McDonald’s – not just a cheap PR stunt.”

We all sympathize with the struggle of working women, including the need to make ends meet and care for sick children. At the same time, it is worth remembering that someone has to bear the cost of these benefits. As labor costs rise, fast food chains look for ways to cut costs, which includes eliminating jobs. Some companies are installing kiosks, such as McDonald’s. And Red Robin announced in January that it is eliminating bus boys to cut costs.

The Employment Policies Institute, a research organization that studies the impact of public policy on employment, found in a December 2017 report that California will lose approximately 400,000 jobs as a result of becoming the first state to have a statewide minimum wage of $15 by 2022. And half of the job loss is expected in two industries—accommodation and food services and retail trade.

McDonald’s responds to calls for increased minimum wages by reminding workers that it is playing an important role in the economy, providing people with a starting point in the workforce, not an ending point. McDonald’s career pageclaims working at McDonald’s is “America’s best first job,” using that slogan in this ad. For many women, like Bedoy, that’s exactly what it was. Policymakers should be cautious about implementing policies that eliminate the first rung on many Americans’ career ladder.