As a mother, I have felt the burden and struggle of raising a family, pursuing a career and making ends meet for a very long time. I am not alone. As a nation we must step down off our “family values” soapbox; listen to mothers; and get real about creating and enforcing sustainable and effective policies that support the importance of the family unit. Then and only then will true enlightenment be attained.
I was amazed to learn how much research there is — at business schools — saying 24/7 work culture is counter-productive and not the necessity it is often seen to be. Even in the most demanding jobs, re-thinking time use gives us BOTH better results for clients and more dinners at home. A newly published Harvard Business Review piece (on a 4-year study at Boston Consulting Group) offers very inspiring ideas we can all apply where we work.
I’ve been on a one-woman campaign to resurrect the phrase, paycheck job, used by Betty Friedan in The Feminine Mystique forty years ago.
Friedan was referring, of course, to jobs outside the home for which people receive money. She recognized that the unpaid job of caring for children and home was also “work”—as do most people [...]
Why is it so hard to tell our bosses we have to leave for family reasons? What if all the dads where we worked did it more often? Leaders like Valerie Jarrett show that being committed to your kids and your job are not mutually exclusive — and employers win when they recognize that. Maria Shriver’s report A Women’s Nation offers fresh ideas for opening up more common-sense conversation – like adopting UK “right to request” rules that allow parents to get some control over their hours and still produce great results for their employers.
I was at the Working Mother Work Life Congress this week, which showcases the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers and also provides workshops and discussions for people who work in the field unfortunately called “work life.” Companies were asking: What should we do to retain new moms, and to keep them engaged and energized? [...]
No doubt The Shriver Report, “A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything,” meant to stir up debate and discussion.
Hoopla has surrounded the news that women have just about reached parity with men by comprising 50% of the paid workforce; and that women and men agree on much about their evolving roles as both breadwinners and caregivers.
Now here [...]
When I was writing my book Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict in the late 1990s, I was hoeing a lonely field. Feminism was all about domestic violence, sexual harassment, pornography. Work-family issues were just…dowdy. Much has changed, and it’s exciting to have talented and dedicated colleagues. Heather Boushey and Ann O’Leary’s important new [...]
Well, here we go again. Virginia seems to be stuck rehashing the culture wars of the 1980’s in their Governor’s race, but with a new twist. Instead of one side demonizing working women, both sides are loving us up (although one could argue at times it’s still a bit patronizing).
Seems that Republican candidate Bob McDonnell [...]
From Your (Wo)manInWashington blog
This week on the Hill, members of the Work, Family and Health Network presented their findings at a congressional briefing about the intersection of workplace policy and workers’ health and well-being. When employees face conflict between work and family obligations, there is an increase in their stress level, greater risk of heart [...]
How can Letterman’s news make the world better for working moms? Let’s take this chance to have some straight talk about how bad rules — or no rules — at work drive a lot of women away from good jobs. Let’s talk openly about our personal experience so working moms can stay, succeed and join forces with good guys (like Fred in the below) to reset workplace culture.
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