Author Archive

    Work-life balance: Finding the Swede spot

    Posted July 27th, 2010 by Katrina Alcorn

    A quiet revolution has been taking place in Sweden for 15 years, affecting everything from the gender pay gap to workplace culture to relationships between parents and children. It all started at home. Here’s a link to the fascinating New York Times story about this phenomenon. Now here’s my distilled version—with original illustrations! This Swedish [...]

    Who clips the nails? Survey results are in!

    Posted July 19th, 2010 by Katrina Alcorn

    Thanks to everyone who took my “Who clips the nails?” survey. The results are in! Below is a summary. I’m posting the detailed results, comments, and analysis now and throughout the week on my blog: workingmomsbreak.com. Overview Even though studies show fathers are changing more diapers and folding more laundry than ever, mothers are still [...]

    This sucks: Breast pumping at work

    Posted July 14th, 2010 by Katrina Alcorn

    Many of our employers and coworkers remain woefully ignorant about breastfeeding; without realizing it, they put us in situations that can be thoroughly humiliating.

    Survey: Who clips their nails?

    Posted June 15th, 2010 by Katrina Alcorn

    Studies show today’s fathers are doing significantly more child care and housework than their fathers did. Here’s my question: Are these dads just folding more laundry, or are they also taking responsibility for the complicated logistics of family life? And here’s my other question: Do heterosexual couples divide up chores differently than gay and lesbian [...]

    Herd feelings

    Posted June 2nd, 2010 by Katrina Alcorn

    Working mothers are not crackheads. Having children is not just another lifestyle choice. If we want to keep this little human experiment going, then we need a sizable chunk of the population to keep having children.

    Divas, madonnas, and working mamas

    Posted May 20th, 2010 by Katrina Alcorn

    The media is our society’s muse. It attends to our collective consciousness. Whether we watch it or not, like it or not, it propels (or limits) our collective imagination. So when our society is bombarded with images of madonnas and primadonnas, princesses and whores, these images worm their way into our understanding of what a woman is.

    A mother of a day

    Posted May 11th, 2010 by Katrina Alcorn

    I can’t think of a better way to say this. I had a truly crappy Mother’s Day this year. I think Anna Jarvis would understand. Inspired by her own mother’s life, she started a campaign in 1907 to recognize mothers for their contribution to society. She was successful in making Mother’s Day a national holiday, [...]

    If you give a mouse a Prozac…

    Posted April 9th, 2010 by Katrina Alcorn

    For six years, I “balanced” a demanding job, a commute, and raising young children. All things considered, I thought I was managing really well until just before my last child turned one year old. Then, the stress and exhaustion I’d been holding at bay engulfed me. I could barely get out of bed, or eat, or think.

    Uncle Peter’s theory

    Posted April 2nd, 2010 by Katrina Alcorn

    Meet my Uncle Peter. He’s a really cool guy who happens to be an employee rights lawyer in New York and has talked with more than a thousand women and men about their work lives over the course of his career. He has a theory about why conditions are so difficult for working moms.

    Working Moms on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

    Posted March 24th, 2010 by Katrina Alcorn

    My friend Jane has a problem. She works full-time for a government agency in California and has two little girls in preschool. Jane is really good at her job. Jane is losing her mind.

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