The Mommy Wars Rage On
The Pew Research Center released a new study last week that found mothers who work full-time give themselves slightly lower ratings than those who stay home or work part-time.
More so, the study found that 60 percent of mothers who work full-time say they would prefer part-time work, compared to 48 percent a decade ago.
Much fuss is being made about this study, but I don't see it as an affront to feminism as some would argue.
The feminist movement, in its infancy, told women they could have it all. But sometimes the theory behind a great movement doesn't always work well in reality - particularly when many employers aren't willing to be flexible.
The result has been that many women opt-out of the workplace because it's just too much pressure to be the perfect mother, wife and employee all rolled up into one perfectly coiffed package. It's not surprising when so many employers aren't willing to relieve some of that pressure by offering flexible schedules, meaningful part-time positions, longer family leaves and a more humane response when Jane asks to leave work early so she can go to her son's baseball game.
I consider myself lucky to be a part-time journalist. There aren't many positions that would allow me care for my son during the day and work in the newsroom three nights a week. Of course, I don't hold a coveted reporting beat any more. They simply aren't given out to part-timers.
As a middle-class mom, though, I realized early on that it just didn't pay for me to work full-time. More than half of my salary would be spent on child care.
Mine would be a different story if I were a high-powered woman, making a six-figure salary. But those women typically have to work very long hours, travel and take calls at home. Could Meg Whitman continue to be the CEO of e-Bay on a part-time basis? I don't think the shareholders would appreciate that.
(I suppose you could make the same argument for low-income women who are cleaning offices rather than running them. They often have to work long hours to compensate for their low pay. Either way, the women are away from their families.)
No wonder there's so much guilt out there among the working set that they feel compelled to give themselves lower grades than their stay-at-home or part-time counterparts.
We part-timers feel a little guilty too now and then for missing out. Just not as much.
Here's the link to the Pew Research Center study:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/536/working-women
More so, the study found that 60 percent of mothers who work full-time say they would prefer part-time work, compared to 48 percent a decade ago.
Much fuss is being made about this study, but I don't see it as an affront to feminism as some would argue.
The feminist movement, in its infancy, told women they could have it all. But sometimes the theory behind a great movement doesn't always work well in reality - particularly when many employers aren't willing to be flexible.
The result has been that many women opt-out of the workplace because it's just too much pressure to be the perfect mother, wife and employee all rolled up into one perfectly coiffed package. It's not surprising when so many employers aren't willing to relieve some of that pressure by offering flexible schedules, meaningful part-time positions, longer family leaves and a more humane response when Jane asks to leave work early so she can go to her son's baseball game.
I consider myself lucky to be a part-time journalist. There aren't many positions that would allow me care for my son during the day and work in the newsroom three nights a week. Of course, I don't hold a coveted reporting beat any more. They simply aren't given out to part-timers.
As a middle-class mom, though, I realized early on that it just didn't pay for me to work full-time. More than half of my salary would be spent on child care.
Mine would be a different story if I were a high-powered woman, making a six-figure salary. But those women typically have to work very long hours, travel and take calls at home. Could Meg Whitman continue to be the CEO of e-Bay on a part-time basis? I don't think the shareholders would appreciate that.
(I suppose you could make the same argument for low-income women who are cleaning offices rather than running them. They often have to work long hours to compensate for their low pay. Either way, the women are away from their families.)
No wonder there's so much guilt out there among the working set that they feel compelled to give themselves lower grades than their stay-at-home or part-time counterparts.
We part-timers feel a little guilty too now and then for missing out. Just not as much.
Here's the link to the Pew Research Center study:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/536/working-women
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