Author Archive
Posted March 15th, 2013 by Kristin Maschka
I refused to be one of those people who criticized – or even commented too much – on Sheryl Sandberg’s new book, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, until I’d read it. Since my week included client crises, a non-profit board meeting, tap and drum lessons and oh yes, recovering from the [...]
Posted September 13th, 2012 by Kristin Maschka
I am so fed up with advice from people telling women that if they just make the right personal choices at the right time in the right order then there is no problem fitting career, marriage, and kids into our lives. That’s a load of crap. If anyone had been able to figure out a [...]
Posted July 20th, 2012 by Kristin Maschka
What’s stunning about the reaction to Anne-Marie Slaughter’s article “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All” and the news that new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is pregnant is the size and scope of the reaction itself. And I can explain that reaction with a screen shot. Those two tweets. The first one she sent broadcasts [...]
Posted July 19th, 2012 by Kristin Maschka
When I speak to groups of young women and men, more and more frequently the question I get isn’t “Can I have it all?” it’s “Should I have kids at all?” Young women and couples watch as friends have children, and see new mothers and fathers completely stressed out juggling work and family, marriages unraveling, [...]
Posted July 18th, 2012 by Kristin Maschka
Why do women themselves say that women “Can’t Have it All?” We say it because, as one mother told me, the phrase resonates as being “Shockingly, earthshakingly true.” We use you “Can’t Have it All” because it reflects a reality, our frustration with the impossible goal of trying to be both June Cleaver and Modern [...]
Posted April 17th, 2012 by Kristin Maschka
Equal Pay Day and Tax Day both fall on April 17 this year due to a simple calendar coincidence. But the connection between the two and the financial impact for women and especially mothers is no coincidence. April 17, 2012 is the day that symbolizes how far into 2012 a woman has to work to [...]
Posted March 23rd, 2012 by Kristin Maschka
March is women’s history month and I wanted to share a few tidbits of women’s history that are even less commonly known than most, and history that is still impacting the lives of women and mothers today. Did you know that… When the Social Security act was adopted in the late 1930′s, the Council that [...]
Posted February 12th, 2012 by Kristin Maschka
Today’s mothers and fathers have an uphill battle. Here we are struggling to share parenting and employment in a world that still expects us to be in traditional family roles, and a government institution comes along to tell us that when dad takes care of the kids it’s “babysitting”, but when mothers do it, well, [...]
Posted November 21st, 2011 by Kristin Maschka
1. Don’t choose what to do. (Choose what NOT to do – quickly.) My career has been propelled most by the times I started down a path, realized it was not a good fit, and quickly chose NOT to do it anymore. Even when that decision was painful, risky or counter-intuitive. Four months in, I realized [...]
Posted October 25th, 2011 by Kristin Maschka
Every October, National Work and Family Month gives me flashbacks. When I became pregnant, I was a manager at a high-tech company. My job was at least fifty hours a week and, given a recent merger, would now include coast-to-coast travel. With my husband working crazy hours as a new associate at a law firm, we [...]
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