I am the Tuesday guest blogger over at Leslie Morgan Steiner's wonderful blog On Balance on the Washington Post online.
Check it out if you have a chance. You have to register to view Washington Post online content, but it is free.
What About Moms Who Want to Work?
Edited to add:
Please keep in mind if you read the article that I'm not making any judgments about women who do stay at home or work part time. I'm simply talking about why I choose to work and not making any judgments about other choices. I'm not even making any statement about the blog to which I was responding, aside from the fact that I have received overwhelmingly supportive comments from female mentors regarding work and family. I just wanted to share that support with other working women.
I'm not entirely sure why this is a hot button topic for so many women, but it is. I guess we all feel judged by others, no matter what our choices are. Anyway, a (stay at home) friend was hurt and insulted by my article and that was never what I intended.
Check it out if you have a chance. You have to register to view Washington Post online content, but it is free.
What About Moms Who Want to Work?
Edited to add:
Please keep in mind if you read the article that I'm not making any judgments about women who do stay at home or work part time. I'm simply talking about why I choose to work and not making any judgments about other choices. I'm not even making any statement about the blog to which I was responding, aside from the fact that I have received overwhelmingly supportive comments from female mentors regarding work and family. I just wanted to share that support with other working women.
I'm not entirely sure why this is a hot button topic for so many women, but it is. I guess we all feel judged by others, no matter what our choices are. Anyway, a (stay at home) friend was hurt and insulted by my article and that was never what I intended.
Labels: Feminist Manifesto, Mama Drama
9 Comments:
Hey, I just read your wonderful article on the Washington Post blog. I have just started a new career as a litigator, have a two-year-old who is the light of my life, and am your age, and I am so dejected by the constant negativism about how I'll never be able to do this and spend time with my daughter. Thanks for your encouraging words for all of us out there that love our children more than anything but also want to/have to work.
Thank you thank you thank you. I love that you operate in the middle ground -- it's how I viewed my mom's working. The polarization of SAH vs working drives me crazy and question having children
I really enjoyed reading your article in WaPo. I rarely read that blog because I don't relate to it well but the title of your article caught my eye. I've been a working mom of three (18, 15, 12) for last 18 years and I think for everyone involved it has been good. I'm an engineer and there are few women and even fewer moms so I enjoyed reading about someone in a like situation. The days of figuring out childcare are behind me and now I'm in the midst of the teenage years which are as interesting and as challenging as the infant/toddler years. It's a good thing we grow into this job. Thanks again for the good words.
Funnily enough, I clicked through on Chicky Chicky Baby's comment sections - because I'd seen your guest blog on Steiner's blog.
You are a brave brave woman; the people who comment on Steiner's blog can be really brutal. So much bickering and beside-the-pointedness!
I enjoyed your post. I thought you made a lot of good, reasonable points. Why shouldn't moms work if they enjoy working? Dads don't lose sleep over these questions! (And I say that as a lawyer turned SAHM.)
Cheers!
I just wanted to thank you for your wonderful article today. I'll be graduating from law school in May and getting married 2 weeks after graduation, and it was so refreshing to hear someone stand up for working moms out there. I'm the proud product of a working mom, and I can't wait to put this degree I just spent 3 years busting my hump for to use! I forwarded the article to several of my female classmates and my mom. So a big thanks from a future lawyer and (hopefully) mother.
Congratulations, LM! Kudos to you for getting an essay placed there. I bet lots more readers will now be stopping by this blog to read what you have to say!
Great essay!
I usually read On Balance, but I can never get through all the comments! It's great to see you featured there!
I'm always surprised by how many lawyers post there!!
In any case, your guest post was very good. It's odd that it's so hard for mothers to understand each other's choices. To me, the issue isn't really judging each other's choice, but rather trying to understand that people are DIFFERENT -- some women LOVE to work. Some women LOVE being a mom. And some women LOVE both -- and these women must forge a complex path. (So must women whose financial situation demands that they work, but I think that induces less guilt, even though it is logistically just as difficult.)
Anyway, I am NOT a woman who loves to work. But I do appreciate the benefits of working, so while I don't love it, I think it is an important part of me. For me, working part time has been a great solution. But it is not for everyone. Full time work seems to work for you, and for your family.
I love knowing that there are so many different paths for women, and I am glad that men are beginning to find their own divergent paths in balancing work and home life.
Great article! I couldn't make it through all of the comments because my blood pressure kept going up. It's amazing to me that the same battles is raging between WMs and SAHMs today that I battled twenty-five years ago when C was born. During her growing-up years at various times I was a SAHM, PT worker, FT worker, and a FT student. Each choice was right for our family at the time. Cudos to you and T for working as a team to meet your family's needs.
As a law student and mother of a three year-old, I really appreciated you taking the time to write this piece for On Balance. It's always helpful to me to read about lawyer moms who not only enjoy their work but also believe they have struck a work/life balance. Thank you. :)
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