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Essay on Working Mothers

Students are often asked to write an essay on Working Mothers in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on Working Mothers

The importance of working mothers.

Working mothers play a pivotal role in our society. They not only contribute to the family’s income but also serve as role models for their children. They teach important values like hard work, independence, and resilience.

Challenges Faced by Working Mothers

Balancing work and family life can be challenging for working mothers. They often juggle multiple responsibilities like professional tasks, child care, and household chores. Despite these challenges, they strive to excel in both domains.

The Impact on Children

Children of working mothers learn to be independent and responsible from an early age. They get inspired to pursue their dreams and ambitions, seeing their mothers’ dedication and commitment.

Also check:

  • 10 Lines on Working Mothers

250 Words Essay on Working Mothers

Introduction.

The concept of ‘working mothers’ has evolved significantly over the years, shifting from a socio-economic necessity to an emblem of women’s empowerment. This phenomenon has not only transformed the structure of the family but also influenced societal norms and perceptions.

The Evolution of Working Mothers

Historically, mothers were confined to the domestic sphere, responsible for nurturing the family. The feminist movement, however, challenged this traditional view, advocating for women’s rights to work and contribute economically. The rise of working mothers since then represents a significant shift in societal structures.

Impact on Family Dynamics

Working mothers have redefined family dynamics. They have proven that it is possible to raise children while pursuing a career, thereby debunking the myth of the ‘ideal’ mother being confined to the home. This shift has also led to a more equitable distribution of household chores, promoting gender equality.

Economic Implications

Working mothers contribute significantly to the economy. They not only support their families financially but also add to the national income. This economic independence further empowers them, allowing them to make decisions about their lives and families.

Challenges and Solutions

Despite the progress, working mothers face numerous challenges, including societal judgment, work-life balance issues, and lack of support. Addressing these issues requires societal change, flexible work policies, and robust support systems.

In conclusion, working mothers are a testament to the evolving roles of women in society. They symbolize resilience, strength, and the ability to balance multiple roles, thereby challenging traditional norms and contributing to societal progress.

500 Words Essay on Working Mothers

Working mothers are an integral part of society, demonstrating the epitome of multitasking by juggling personal and professional responsibilities. They are the pillars of their households and workplaces, contributing significantly to the economy while shaping the future generation.

Historically, societal norms and expectations confined women to domestic roles. However, the rise of feminism and women’s rights movements in the 20th century led to a paradigm shift, encouraging women to step out of their homes and pursue careers. Today, working mothers are prevalent across various sectors, from science and technology to arts and humanities.

The Balancing Act

The life of a working mother is a delicate balance between work and home. They often face the “double burden” of managing household chores and professional tasks, leading to a phenomenon known as “time poverty.” Despite these challenges, many working mothers successfully navigate this complex terrain through effective time management, family support, and flexible work arrangements.

Impact on Children and Society

The impact of working mothers on children and society is multifaceted. Children of working mothers often grow up to be independent, resilient, and empathetic, having witnessed their mothers’ hard work and dedication. Moreover, working mothers contribute to the economy, help reduce gender wage gaps, and challenge traditional gender roles, fostering a more equitable society.

The Role of Employers and Policy Makers

Employers and policy makers play a crucial role in facilitating the journey of working mothers. Workplaces need to offer flexible hours, remote work options, and family-friendly policies. On the policy front, governments should ensure equal pay, provide affordable childcare, and enforce maternity and paternity leave laws.

Working mothers are the backbone of a progressive society. They not only contribute to their family’s well-being and the economy, but also inspire the next generation to challenge societal norms and strive for equality. The journey of a working mother is challenging yet rewarding, filled with hurdles and triumphs. By acknowledging their efforts and providing them with the necessary support, we can create a society where both men and women can thrive in their personal and professional lives.

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Having a Working Mother Is Good For You

Jim Aisner jaisner+hbs.edu 617-495-6157 Rimjhim Dey [email protected] 917-514-3359

About Harvard Business School

Founded in 1908 as part of Harvard University, Harvard Business School is located on a 40-acre campus in Boston. Its faculty of more than 250 offers full-time programs leading to the MBA and PhD degrees, as well as more than 175 Executive Education programs, and Harvard Business School Online, the School’s digital learning platform. For more than a century, faculty have drawn on their research, their experience in working with organizations worldwide, and their passion for teaching, to educate leaders who make a difference in the world. The School and its curriculum attract the boldest thinkers and the most collaborative learners who will go on to shape the practice of business and entrepreneurship around the globe.

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Why Working Moms Need To Support Each Other

To working moms everywhere: i am here, cheering you on.

It took me over a decade of parenting to fully appreciate how much I rely on the support of workplace moms I don’t know very well.

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Working Mom's Powerful Essay Shows The Reality Of 'Having It All'

Senior Reporter, HuffPost Life

Sarah Treem is the creator of the show "The Affair."

Sarah Treem knows that being a working mom is veritable roller coaster ride of emotions and hard decisions.

As the creator of the Golden Globe-winning television show, “The Affair,” and mother of two children under 5, she’s become a public face of successful work-life balance. But Treem opened up about the difficult reality behind the glamorous facade in a powerful essay for Red Online .

“As I write this, I’m alone in my house with my 4-year-old son and my 10-month-old daughter. My daughter has caught some virus that seems to be generating a really terrifying rash on 90% of her body,” she wrote.

“My lovely pediatrician, who I’ve now seen three times in the last 10 days, isn’t concerned, but she doesn’t have to wake up every 90 minutes to comfort an inconsolable infant,” she added, noting that her son has also been waking up in the night looking for his father, who isn’t home because he and Treem are getting a divorce.

Treem has two young children under 5.

The 37-year-old showrunner and her husband, Jay Carson, separated after tying the knot in 2014.

Treem said that though her career success turned her into a poster child for “having it all,” that’s only how it looked from the outside.

“I’m so tired and overwhelmed, I know I’m going to cry, but I don’t want to wake anyone up, so I go into the bathroom, I turn on the water, then I lay down on the floor, curl into a ball and cry there. Pretty glamorous, right?” Treem wrote of shooting the second season of her show while pregnant.

“You can argue that I should have seen this coming. What was I thinking, trying to run a TV show, support a new marriage and have two children at the same time?” she continued, writing that she thought she was tough enough handle any amount of stress, but learned she was wrong.

“But I don’t think I wanted anything different than a 35-year-old man in my position would expect from his life,” she added. “Two children, a happy marriage and a white-hot career? Is that such a crazy thing to strive for?”

Treem said her main regret as a working mom is not asking for more help sooner.

Treem said her main regret is not asking for help sooner, but she found an inspiring network of support when she finally decided to reach out.

“I felt that I needed to prove I could do it on my own. I didn’t want anyone to see me as compromised because I was a woman,” she wrote.

Treem concluded her piece with some advice for her fellow working moms. In addition to reminding them that the journey is tough and they should always ask for help, she encouraged women to be kind to themselves and not to fear their own stories.

“Even if it doesn’t work out the way you expected it to,” she wrote. “Even if it feels like failure. No matter what happens, it is still the story of your life and nobody else can tell it.”

Read the full essay on Red Online .

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Popular in the community, from our partner, huffpost shopping’s best finds, more in life.

working mom essay

I'm a working mom, and I'm exhausted. This is all the invisible work I do.

  • I work full time, am married, and have three kids under age 4.
  • On top of my actual job, I do tons of invisible work related to my children and their well-being.
  • Like many parents, I'm at a breaking point because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Insider Today

The other day, as I was answering the simple question of "How did your day go?" which my husband always asks as we pick up our kids from school, I went through the list of all the things I had done for work. It was a lot and still didn't feel like enough.

Then I paused and started listing all the things I did outside work , and it was even more.

I changed three kids, packed three lunches, fed three breakfasts, loaded everyone into a car, and put away laundry for five people, all before 9 a.m. Then I edited other people's stories, wrote two pieces, and corresponded with at least 10 people over email. During my quick lunch break, I called my doctor to schedule a yearly checkup for me and my husband.

After work, I went with my husband to pick up the kids; entertained them while dinner was getting ready; ate two nuggets standing up while one of the twins yelled in my ear; changed everyone into pajamas; read the kids about three books; and put everyone down to bed.

Once they were asleep I picked up all the toys, helped my husband with the trash and the dishes, and cried.

Parents do so much invisible work

I'm not the first to voice how working parents in the US during a pandemic are at their wit's end . It's been covered . It's been talked about at length . Tweets have gone viral. But this is not what I expected working parenthood to be .

Related stories

Right now it feels as if I have three full-time jobs. My actual job, taking care of my kids, and taking care of the house.

I'm an only child, and my mom had copious amounts of help while also being a stay-at-home mom. Both my grandmothers came over regularly to take care of me, and they had live-in help. When I try to convey to my mom that both my husband and I are hanging on by a thread, like many parents in the US, she doesn't get it. We don't have grandparents around who can tap us out, and we can't afford more help than what we've got.

The worst part of it all is that we don't have it that bad . We have someone who comes regularly to clean our home. Our three kids are able to go to in-person school. I love my job and can work from home. Most important, I have an involved partner who does equally as much, if not more, of the child-related tasks.

None of this is new, but also we need to keep talking about it

It's hard to articulate all this to child-free people. First because, yes, I chose this life. But also because time is not mine anymore, and that is a concept you don't truly get until you have a baby. There is no downtime when you have kids.

You are always on edge about something (maybe they coughed while napping and now you're googling COVID-19 symptoms) and always planning the next thing — a doctor's appointment, or soccer practice, or family photo. You're constantly trying to get them fed, bathed, and changed.

Earlier this week, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. because one of the twins wasn't feeling well. She proceeded to wake up the entire house with her screams, so my day and list of invisible work got longer.

I had to walk up and down our street with a baby strapped to my chest while she took a nap at 8 a.m. before I even checked my work email. And I genuinely can't tell you when I most recently showered.

We, as a society, need to keep talking about this — not only to get actual change for working parents, especially moms, but also to keep expectations realistic for those who are thinking about having kids. The world has long expected parents to work full time and raise children without a safety net. The pandemic just put it in front of everyone's eyes.

working mom essay

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Lessons from a Working Mom on “Doing It All”

  • Francesca Gino

working mom essay

Stop aiming for perfection, and start aiming for happiness.

How does anyone effectively juggle a busy family life and career — especially during the Covid-19 crisis. No one will do it perfectly. The key is to reset expectations and follow four simple principles: go for happy, not perfect; accept mistakes with curiosity; do what makes sense for you; and find time for laughter.

In these difficult times, we’ve made a number of our coronavirus articles free for all readers. To get all of HBR’s content delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Daily Alert newsletter.

“I don’t know how you do it.” Whether it comes at the start of a videoconference or a call, this is one of the most frequent comments I hear from clients, colleagues, and even friends these days as we’re doing our usual pre-meeting check ins.

  • Francesca Gino is a behavioral scientist and the Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. She is the author of Rebel Talent and Sidetracked . francescagino

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Motherhood — Benefits Of Being A Working Mother

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Benefits of Being a Working Mother

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Words: 880 |

Published: Feb 8, 2022

Words: 880 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

  • BLS. (2018). Employment characteristics of families. Washington, DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Cox, F. (2008). Human intimacy: Marriage, the family, and its meaning. New York, NY: Cengage Brain.
  • Greenberg, C., & Avigdor, B. (2009). What happy working mothers know: How findings in positive psychology can lead to a healthy and happy work/life balance. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
  • Nickells, E. (2010). The funny side of living with ADHD. New York, NY: Troubador Publishing.

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To the working mom who’s also a stay-at-home mom: I see you

At the end of the day, we don’t want our children to say that mama did it all. We want them to know that mama did what she could, and that was more than enough.

By Mariah Maddox March 9, 2022

Mother holding a sleeping baby and working on a laptop

I always knew that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom . I didn’t want to look back at my child’s first years of life and wonder if I witnessed every monumental moment or if missed what was important from being too consumed by everything else. I knew that staying home with my son was the right route for me, but I also knew that being a working mom was important to my womanhood and my sense of self. So I decided to work a remote job while staying home with my little one. 

My mother was a SAHM for over a decade, tending to and raising nine kids. From the outside in, the work she did looked seamless and inspiring and extraordinary. She was my role model, my power woman. That she would sacrifice the minutes of her days to give us her attention was selfless. Younger me would have wanted to be that woman, but who I am now wishes I would have seen how hard it was for her. I can only imagine how many of those minutes she spent losing herself, struggling with her identity or wishing for some time with her friends. 

I lost myself—in my work and in mothering—and creating a balance seemed impossible.

Because that’s where I found myself after the birth of my son and upon my return to working a remote job. I lost myself—in my work and in mothering—and creating a balance seemed impossible. I wanted to be the best employee. But I also wanted to be the best mother. Two sides of my identity were constantly grappling for my undivided attention, and I felt defeated.

Working gives me something of my own while mothering gives me something of everyone else. 

Yet to everyone around me, I had it easy. I realized how often I heard things like just be grateful you get to stay home or wow, you’re living the life.

Every corner I turned, my experience of being a working SAHM felt invalid. My struggle of juggling my career in one arm and my baby in the other felt unsupported. And my mom-guilt got the best of me. Was I making the right decision to continue working amidst trying to care for my little one?  Where was my village? What if I still missed my son’s monumental moments by trying to juggle it all?

But I had to silence the slandering thoughts of negativity. I came to the conclusion that working was important to me, and so was mothering. Working gives me something of my own while mothering gives me something of everyone else. And I wanted to enjoy the benefits of both, of feeling accomplished after completing an assignment and being there for my child’s first steps.

I remember one evening my husband came home from work and asked how my day had gone. I exhaustingly told him how tired I was and he jokingly stated: You’re tired? It’s not like you’ve done anything all day. And in that moment, though I laughed at his senseless (and sometimes terrible) humor, I instantly became aware of just how much I actually had done .

Because the load of motherhood is often never-ending. And the demands of being a working SAHM are often unseen. But to the mothers who want to work while still being the primary caretaker for their child, it is possible and I do feel and validate your struggle. So here’s the advice that I have to offer: Make the decision that feels right for you, whether that’s working part-time or full-time from home or not working at all. It isn’t the same for everyone, and that’s the beauty of motherhood. It comes in all shapes and sizes.

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Working Mothers: How Much Working, How Much Mothers, And Where Is The Womanhood?

Jayita poduval.

* Assistant Professor, Department of ENT, Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara, Nepal

Murali Poduval

** Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopedics, Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara, Nepal

Motherhood confers upon a woman the responsibility of raising a child. This process also changes the way in which she is perceived in society and at her workplace. It can necessitate her to take more than available leave options, and job security can be at risk. Significant social and personal adjustments are necessary to cope with such a situation. A working mother, especially one who has the good fortune to be able to balance her home and work, enjoys the stimulation that a job or career provides. She develops the ability of raising a useful member of society and at the same time gains financial independence. Along with motherhood, work adds to the completeness of being a woman.

Introduction

“ I am relieved if, rather than sex bias; the reason why more women are not breaking through the glass ceiling of academic medicine is because their children are hanging on the tails of their white coats. Most of us are happy to have them there, and academic medicine offers a level of professional fulfillment, financial stability, and geographic flexibility that is well worth the juggle ” (Laine, 1998)
“ First, from the early 1950s, many employed mothers began to challenge, although not overturn, the dominant discourse of the ideal mother as exclusively bound to the home. The simple fact that so many women were drawn to work outside the home despite criticism demonstrates the monetary and psychological importance of employment for women ” (Wilson, 2006)

Both quotes above reflect the unique life situation of working mothers, who are now a visible part of the workforce in almost all professions. Many working women start their families while they are working, and some others may find the need to return to work sooner than expected in the postpartum period. The working mother is an institution in her own right, one who combines a successful career giving her financial independence, with an effective motherhood raising a child. It is important to understand that both these jobs are extremely demanding, and to do justice to each without neglecting the other is a formidable task.

In this article, we shall try to clarify the difficulties a working mother may have on functioning with such dual responsibility.

Working and Motherhood

One could define a working mother as a woman with the ability to combine a career with the added responsibility of raising a child. Within this broad term may be encompassed two different categories of working women: the stay at home mother who works from home and the woman who works away from home while managing to fulfill her maternal duties.

Material aspirations and the necessities of daily life often compel both parents to work. A qualified woman may insist on working to maintain an effective career and be financially independent. The single working mother is a combination of these entities, working not only to run the family, but also maintaining her position as a financially independent head of the family.

Some of the points we must try to address include the following:

  • a) Does motherhood affect productivity at the workplace?
  • b) Does motherhood incite subconscious gender discrimination at the workplace?
  • c) Does motherhood imply that the employee be given special privileges beyond possible entitlements, say maternity leave?
  • d) Do special policies exist regarding leave benefits and special entitlements that may be needed by working mothers, say sudden sickness of the child?
  • e) Is flexible working desirable? Can it be taken undue advantage of by the employee?

In this context, some of the issues that come into play include the following:

  • a) Employer issues–maternity, compensated working hours, childcare facilities at the workplace, gender discrimination of working parents, especially in the academic field
  • b) Employee issues–fatigue, spousal support, parental support system, child care issues, child health issues (e.g., do children of working mothers have more health problems?)

Working and Mothers: Some Common Issues

The Department of Labour of the United States of America, in The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (1993), clearly recognizes the needs of working parents. According to this statute:

“The number of single-parent households and two-parent households in which the single parent or both parents work is increasing significantly. It is important for the development of children and the family unit that fathers and mothers are able to participate in early childrearing .The lack of employment policies to accommodate working parents can force individuals to choose between job security and parenting. Due to the nature of the roles of men and women in our society, the primary responsibility for family caretaking often falls on women, and such responsibility affects the working lives of women more than it affects the working lives of men. Employment standards that apply to one gender only have serious potential for encouraging employers to discriminate against employees and applicants for employment who are of that gender [The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (1993)]” .

Therefore, the need to support a working mother is well recognized. It has also been explicitly mentioned that the dominant role in childcare is recognized and assumed to be that of the mother and that this responsibility affects the working life of women more than that of men.

Certain common problems plague most working women. The Better Health Channelon the Web, ratified by the Government of Australia, states some of the common issues that may concern working mothers (Better Health Channel, 2008). Foremost amongst these are income difficulties. If the mother works, childcare support is essential and can be quite expensive. It may actually offset the financial benefits of both the parents working.

In Asian countries, and in many joint family systems, grandparents and other nonworking family members fulfill the need for childcare–they take over the job of childcare when the mother is at work. This very important benefit (of readily available child support from the family members themselves) in joint families not only recognizes that the working mother is an important member of the family, but also provides her the necessary support to be able to perform her dual role efficiently.

Stress loads can be quite high amongst working mothers and these may often reflect in their relationships at home. She is stressed to reach work on time, to send her child to school and to reach all the children's deadlines on time including food and dress, and she is also pressed for time to look after her home simultaneously.

Housework is still considered the woman's domain. Working women shoulder additional responsibility of the work place as well as at their domestic front.

Unexpected sickness of children is a calamity that can be difficult to handle. There often is need to use and avail of unpaid leave and unexpected absences from work. Few employers would consider the needs of sudden leave requirements in women with young children. Even in double-income families, it is still the woman who is expected to take care of a sick child (ibid).

Sexual relationships can also be quite strained in working mothers. Much of it can be attributed to lack of time and to fatigue, especially where both partners have long working hours (ibid).

Nutritional requirements may be neglected in the quest to complete and meet all targets at home as well as at work (Finn, 2000). These women, whom Finn calls Everyday Heroes , use everything from the dashboard to the desktop as a dining table. The result is an amazing variety of nutritional deficiencies, ranging from iron and vitamins to proteins. Despite confiding in their physicians many just do not get the support they need.

Mothers and Employment

The rush of married women into the workforce runs against traditional thinking that women must choose between family and career. Many observers condemned working mothers as selfish, unnatural and even dangerous to their children and society (Wilson, 2006). It was complained that the rise in juvenile delinquency could also be attributed to women who are working mothers, but needs and requirements of the family unit will always supersede ill-defined logic. Women, motherhood or not, continue to work. The reasons are, more often than not, aspirational. Many of these mothers are young and have spent years developing their careers. When both spouses work it may be necessary for the mother to retain her job if she has insurance benefits, and if she wants to retire with better retirement benefits (Edelman, 2002). Many of these women find the need to maintain a parallel source of income a social security and a sign of independence.

A mother may work out of a financial compulsion, a desire to fulfill herself, or to supplement the family income. In all of these three instances, she is a working mother, but the implications of her situation are different.

As Wilson (2006) says “ many working women said that they worked because they ‘needed’ the money and which they defined as specific material goods-an extra lesson, additional clothes, a vacation, furniture, owning a home, car or even just a television-arguing their work was bringing a rise in the family's standard of living .” Both men and women had material and emotional expectations for better standards of living and a working wife could add considerably to achieving those goals (Wilson, 2006).

A financial compulsion could be a less competent spouse with an inadequate income, or a single mother who is dependent on her earnings for survival. A second income from the mother adds to better living conditions and eases the stresses of struggling for a comfortable life. However, when the mother is returning to work purely to maintain and advance a career that satisfies her and keeps her independent, she comes under scrutiny and criticism (Heilman and Okimoto, 2008).

The working mother has to keep the convincing stance that she is working not just for her own sustenance, but also for the betterment of the family. Something like, “a working woman who put herself out for the kid's sake” (Wilson, 2006). Working women changed the image of a good mother from one who stayed at home to one who also took on extra burden for her family's benefit. This would however not recognize the working mother as an important member of the workforce and an important worker in her own right! It is possible for a working mother to defend her right to work in a number of ways. A less affluent member of society would simply say it brings in much needed extra money. A woman from a better class of living would say she has more money to spare and is utilizing her talents and skills to the best effect. In either case, the most important aspect is that it shouldn‘t affect the health and well being of their children in any way. In any case, “having to work” takes away much of the problems a working mother has to face (Wilson, 2006).

Employer's Perceptions of Efficiency and Relationships of Motherhood to the Working Environment

A working mother's ability to deliver is considered with trepidation. Having decided to work, will the working mother be able to deliver efficiently at the work place?

Motherhood leads to a definite bias in employment for women seeking a job in traditionally male settings (Heilman and Okimoto, 2008). In general, for both men and women, parenthood changes the way in which both men and women are viewed in terms of expected work focus, especially producing expectations of undependability. The authors also add that there are possible heightened associations with gender stereotypes that occur when women are mothers; this may lead to heightened performance expectations that predispose greater negativity to be directed at mothers than at non mothers when career advancement decisions are made (Heilman and Okimoto, 2008). They also noted that employment bias occurred against mothers irrespective of whether they were students or working people, and that women suffer definite disadvantages when at the workplace, a problem that has been called the Maternal Wall by Williams (Heilman and Okimoto, 2008; Williams, 2001).

It is well known that employment has positive effects on the mother (Barnett, 2004). There is an underlying assumption that the roles of mother and wife have relatively less stress, as they are natural roles, whereas the role of employee, being unnatural, is therefore highly demanding. This may question the ability of a woman to handle multiple roles without significant ill effects. There is also considerable rhetoric on the relationship of this unnatural employment to many social evils including juvenile delinquency and drug addiction (Barnett, 2004).

Regardless of the reasons, a young mother chooses to work, the workplace and work environment as a whole continue to be hostile. Shouldering dual responsibilities may actually decrease productivity at the work place. Some of the research done has focused on mothers who are working in the academic field, and slower academic progress has been attributed to working mothers in academic medicine (Carr et al ., 1998). They attributed a definite relation between family responsibilities and gender to academic productivity. Having identified 1979 full-time academic faculty from 24 medical schools across the country, a 177-point questionnaire was administered with the aim of describing dependent responsibilities by gender and to identify their relation to the aspirations, goals, rate of progress, academic productivity, and career satisfaction of male and female medical school faculty. In this study, the authors noted that women with children published less even after controlling for variables such as years as a faculty member, number of hours worked per week, and hours of dependent responsibilities (as noted from the peer reviewed publications); they had slower self-perceived career progress and were less satisfied with their careers. The difference seen between the genders was less apparent for faculty without children.

Carr et al . also noted that women faculty with children had less institutional support than men with children. They specially commented that, “In a group less able to expand working hours because of dependent responsibilities; however, institutional support may be especially critical for maintaining productivity.” It was noted here that familial responsibilities with special reference to child bearing disproportionately affected the careers of female faculty. They recommended special attention by scheduling fewer departmental meetings after working hours and making part-time tenures available for faculty (Carr et al ., 1998)

Maternity Leave and Benefits for Working Mothers

Women's recovery from childbirth and their resumption of work and family commitments are likely to be influenced by such personal factors as preexisting health status, parity, breastfeeding, the availability of social support from family and friends and work-related factors, e.g., the timing of return to work, job stress, and workplace support.

Can a working mother do justice to both her work and her motherhood? The answers vary from a firm yes to a vehement no, and, more often than not, the answer lies not in the ability or competence of the woman as much as it does on her support system. The question of a support system is very relevant because traditionally all support systems have revolved around men ever since the times when women were believed to be capable of only “kuche, kirche und kinder” [German for kitchen, church, and children]. A woman who was working before marriage will more often than not opt to take a protracted leave of absence to fully immerse herself in her motherhood. Some would even think of giving up their careers for good.

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 states that it is necessary to balance the demands of the workplace with the needs of families, to promote the stability and economic security of families, and to promote national interests in preserving family integrity; to entitle employees to take reasonable leave for medical reasons, for the birth or adoption of a child, and for the care of a child, spouse, or parent who has a serious health condition, and to promote the goal of equal employment opportunity for women and men.

Most of these summarize succinctly the needs of a mother who is working. Working mothers’ needs are to be served in the interest of preserving the family unit as a healthy foundation for society. Caring for a child has the fundamental value of a serious health condition and has been valued as such, deserving that the parent be allowed to take time off for caring for the child. This means that caring for a child is an essential duty that the parent has to perform and that cannot be substituted for in any other way. This is especially true in cases where the child is one with special needs (Thyen et al ., 1999; Yantzi et al ., 2007). Family support is highest among employed mothers and lowest in mothers who were employed neither currently nor before the child's illness, or who had quit employment to care for the child (Thyen et al , 1999). Caring for a child assisted by technology seems to create barriers to maternal employment diminishing family resources at a time when financial needs actually may increase. Lack of family support and child care services increase the likelihood that mothers of children cared for assisted by technology will stay out of the labour force. Remaining employed buffers the negative effects of care at home on maternal mental health (Yantzi et al , 2007).

Breastfeeding

Maternity leave provisions are essential for a working woman to effectively complete the transition from pregnancy to motherhood. Premature termination or too short a maternity leave may have undesirable consequences. Studies often cite early return to work as one of the reasons for premature termination of breastfeeding. Shorter maternity leaves were associated with less sensitivity in interaction with the infant and more maternal depressive symptoms (Clark et al ., 1997; Ryan et al ., 2006).

One-third of mothers return to work within 3 months of giving birth, and two-thirds return within 6 months. Mothers who are not employed are more likely to initiate breastfeeding than those who are employed full time. At 6 months after delivery, full-time employment has a significant effect on breastfeeding. Much less of the employed mothers continue breastfeeding as compared to the mothers employed part time or unemployed mothers (Ryan et al , 2006).

In order to comply with workplace requirements, mothers in a study focusing on educated mothers in managerial and/or professional occupations noted that mothers were obliged either to cease breastfeeding or to conceal breastfeeding activities when employed. Breastfeeding duration rates among professionally employed mothers can only be improved if negative attitudes about maternal bodies and employment are challenged and if employers, as well as mothers, are the focus of health initiatives aimed at promoting breastfeeding (Gattrell, 2007).

With the implications that this may have on neonatal well being, it may be necessary to have labour policies, including job-protected leaves from employment after birth, and labour standards that facilitate breastfeeding or the expression of breast milk at work (Baker and Milligan, 2008). The authors noted an increase in maternity leave entitlements in Canada, rising from 6 months in the year 2000 to almost one year for mothers who gave birth after 31 December 2000. This includes job protected leave and entitlement for maternity benefits. This led to a large increase in the amount of time before mothers returned to work post birth. An attempt at systematic review to assess whether interventions at the workplace help breastfeeding elicited no suitable trials (Abdulwadud and Snow, 2007).

A study of 360 mothers (Hansen et al ., 1993) analyzed the utilization of maternity leave by parents and mothers’ resumption of work after delivery in addition of duration of breastfeeding in correlation to mothers’ resumption of work. Almost all families utilized the maternity leave, with the majority utilizing the full duration of 24 weeks, many electing to prolong the leave with their holiday and often beyond that period. At one year after delivery, significantly more mothers were housewives than before. They recommended that maternity leave be extended. A positive association has been shown between maternal health and duration of breastfeeding with the length of maternity leave (Staehelin et al ., 2007). The authors found that longer maternity leaves were associated with lower perinatal, neonatal, and postnatal mortalities.

Thus, maternity and child care leave provisions are essential for every working mother. It enables her to nurture the young child efficiently and thus decreases morbidity. The durations of these absences are variable and can depend on so many factors that it may be difficult to fix a uniform period for maternity leave. It may be a function of social circumstance as much as a regional preference. A working mother from a joint family may need much less leave than a single mother, or a woman from a nuclear family and with no child support systems in the family. Often provisions of child care in the office itself in the form of a nursery helps the mother resume work more seamlessly. Part-time work at the office and working from home may also help ease the stress. Part-time work allows women to cultivate outside interests, earn money, and have a defense from criticism of neglecting her children (Wilson, 2006)

Can Working Mothers Take Undue Advantage of Employer Benefits and Social Sentiments, and are They a Drain on Resources?

A woman may keep a job just to keep the home fi res burning, while another may fight against all odds to pursue her career. In the interests of working mothers in both these situations, a solid support system needs to exist, and the prerogative to work or not should lie entirely with the worker, as would be in the case of an ordinary working male. Parties concerned can exploit this situation, that is, a working mother may not be extended an adequate support system, or conversely, she may try to extract special concessions from her employer[s] at the cost of work ethics. Maternity leave, flexible working hours, child-friendly workplace sound extremely good, but what about the flip side? Maternity leave is known to be extended, sometimes indefinitely. Often, the mother quits work altogether. Flexible working hours might adversely affect other employees, and would definitely require their cooperation. As for creating a workplace with childcare facilities, a sufficient number of female employees are desirable. An employer who has a larger number of female employees is likely to be more proactive in providing child care and nursing facilities at the workplace for the working mother. Provisions for part-time employment and work at home opportunities are also easier to provide when the number of female employees, and thus the demand for such a facility, is greater.

The cost-benefit ratio of these privileges needs to be examined. The scale and size of the employer, the health conditions of the mother and child, social support, all play important roles. Definitely, guidelines need to exist and would vary across occupations. A working mother may work for pleasure or compulsion, but work ethics and professionalism must have their place. These in turn will generate more empathy towards working mothers from all quarters -- the employer, the spouse, the family and finally, society. In short, good employees would generate more empathy and better co-operation from their employers. And an understanding and co-operative employer would be able to extract the best from his employee without misuse of the benefits given to them.

Maternal health has been found to be negatively related to employment dissatisfaction. Studies (Romito et al , 2007; Glezer 1988) looked at women in employment before the birth of the first child. Three fourth of women were in the workforce and of these a third did not take maternity leave despite being eligible for the same, and about a quarter (24%) were ineligible for maternity leave for various reasons. Public sector employees availed of most of the maternity leave. As much as half of the women who did not take maternity leave in the private sector were actually unaware of these options. Working in the public sector, a strong attachment to the workforce, trade union memberships, and education were some factors that affected leave taking amongst working mothers (Glezer, 1988).

Working Mothers and Child Development

A woman has the privilege to actually choose between work and motherhood. Social conditioning entails that the woman put home before career even though no expense has been spared in her education and upbringing towards being independent. The equation in a household where both partners are employed changes with the arrival of a child. Maternal instinct ensures that in the initial crucial weeks; the baby is mostly, if not entirely, in the mother's care. During this period mother-child bonding becomes very strong and sees many women happily opting out of pursuing a career. Later on, financial implications of living on a single income and economic aspirations compel a majority of women to get back to work. Career ambitions are also a big driving force for a mother choosing to work, especially one who is well qualified. Women who resume work after a few months are torn between career ambitions and natural childrearing instincts. Even in households where grandparents, relatives or babysitters attend to the child, a working mother still feels ridden with guilt. In families where both the mother and father are equally involved in child rearing, the woman is able to experience less guilt and more satisfaction while being a working mother. Mutual understanding between spouses ensures that along with bringing in the income, both parents not only share the responsibilities of childcare and the immense fulfillment that comes with it, but also continue to enjoy each other's company as partners.

These attitudes and values are then propagated through the generations. That is why we do see many families where the working mother is not considered an anomaly but a welcome entity. This means that gender sensitivity must be cultivated at both the individual and social level so that as working parents, each partner has an equal responsibility towards the children, not merely by the ability to earn money but also by the inclination and commitment to be involved in the process of child rearing.

The effects of maternal employment on children are sometimes positive and sometimes negative (Youngblut et al ., 1998). Parents in non-employed mother families were more satisfied with their families at 18 months than parents in employed mother families (Youngblut et al ., 1994).Curiously it was also found that the infant's motor development was positively correlated with number of hours employed per week and degree of choice for the employed mother families, but negatively correlated with choice for the non-employed mother families. These results suggest that maternal employment may not be detrimental for infants born prior to term. Indeed, it may be beneficial, especially if the mother has a choice in the matter (Youngblut et al ., 1991). For preschoolers, neither mothers’ employment transitions nor their welfare transitions appear to be problematic or beneficial for cognitive achievement or behaviour problems (Chase-Lansdale et al ., 2003). Adolescents whose mothers began working reported statistically significant declines in psychological distress. This pattern was strongest for their symptoms of anxiety.

Employed mothers’ positive motivation for working, low role conflicts and gains in self worth were associated with their favourable descriptions of their children (Alvarez, 1985; Chase-Lansdale et al ., 2003)

Mothers’ employed status benefits children by improving family income, better disciplined work behaviour and better structure of family routines .Studies (Chase-Lansdale et al ., 2003; Alvarez, 1985) have noted that maternal higher education was found to be a powerful mitigator of possible negative consequences for children whose mothers were working from financial necessity or were experiencing role conflict. Youngblut et al ., (1998) explored differences in parent-child and family relationships for employed and non-employed single mothers of low birth-weight and full-term preschool children. They found that employed mothers had more positive perceptions and provided more enriching home environments for their children. They noted that in single-parent families, employment and consistency are positive influences on the mother-child relationship.

The answer to whether work pays as far as parenting is concerned is believed to be complex (Raver, 2003). Women who held lower rung jobs experience much more negativity in their parenting styles. Considering that income increase is a really positive factor that leads to better mental health of the family unit in the long term, low wage jobs may not benefit the family unit materially or economically. These factors can have an effect on the parenting style in working mothers (Raver, 2003). The families’ emotional climate and mothers’ mental health are both important factors that determine the effect of employment of mothers on the family unit.

Preschoolers experience a significant decline in time spent with their mothers when their mothers go to work and total time spent with the child has shown to decrease by as much as 2 hours per day. A trade off is found between time and money, as family income increases whereas mother's time with child decreases. Hence these two may offset each other. Mothers may often compensate for this by decreasing social, educational and personal activities that do not involve the children (Chase-Lansdale et al ., 2003).

The incidence of childhood obesity was found to increase with increases in maternal employment as the number of hours spent with the child decrease, thus decreasing access to healthy food and increasing dependence on junk food (Hawkins et al ., 2008). The Millennium Cohort Study Child Health Group stated that long hours of maternal employment, rather than lack of money, may impede young children's access to healthy foods and physical activity (ibid). Children were more likely to be overweight for every ten hours a mother worked per week and this relationship was significant for children from households with a higher annual income (ibid).

In contrast, it was noted that, for pre-adolescent children (Greenberger and O’Neill, 1992), maternal employment (typically, conditioned by mothers’ level of education and child gender) was more strongly associated with fathers’ and teachers’ perceptions of children than with mothers’ perceptions, and, in some cases, especially with fathers’ and teachers’ perceptions of daughters. Fathers perceived their 5-6-year-olds as having more problem behaviours when mothers were currently employed full time. Fathers and teachers viewed children's behaviour as more problematic when less educated mothers had been employed during more years of the child's lifetime.

Mothers’ transitions into employment were related to improvements in adolescents’ mental health. Adolescents whose mothers began working reported statistically significant declines in psychological distress (Chase-Lansdale et al ., 2003). The effect of maternal employment on adolescent daughters was studied by Jensen and Borges and they noted that daughters of non-employed mothers had a closer relationship with their fathers, perceived them as happier and friendlier, and experienced less anger and tension in the home (Jensen and Borges, 1986). With adolescents and teenagers an improvement in their mental health was found in correlation with increased incomes in the family. Depressive and aggressive symptoms increased with mothers’ exit from employment. It appears that when mothers of adolescents entered the labour force, they compensated for time away from their young teenagers by cutting down on time apart when they were not on the job (Chase Lansdale et al ., 2003).

Contrary to popular belief, a working mother can have a positive impact on her growing children but many variables need to be considered. The most important is obviously the availability of child-care facilities.

Where Is The Womanhood?

Women's movements have proved that a woman is no less than a man in every sphere of life, and women can take upon themselves to go a step further and prove that what a man can do, a woman can do better. So if a man could work to earn money, a woman could work, earn money and look after the kid[s] as well. Of course, a little help is always welcome, but we see scores of women who juggle all the three beautifully, and still do not complain.

Who does? The husband, the in-laws, some friends, and the conscience of the woman, who still think she is not doing a good-enough job.

Is it a question raised on her womanhood?

In society, womanhood continues to be described from an essentially male viewpoint. This can be especially true of societies in third world countries like India. Adjectives used to describe a woman may vary from feminine to tender, motherly, etc. A woman is all this and more. As a working mother, she is independent and empowered, especially if she is from a low socio-economic background. And that is the essence of her womanhood. Financial independence gives a sense of empowerment, and the additional income that the family gets, improves the family's standard of living and these together constitute a very essential upgrade for families with low socioeconomic background.

While there is no clear-cut relationship of the term manhood to nurturing a child, except for the capacity to procreate, womanhood carries with it the onus of a deep, strong instinct and inclination to nurture. Indeed, a woman feels, or is expected to feel, incomplete without being a mother, either as a biological trait or because of social conditioning. While the professional aspirations of the modern working woman continue to soar, as soon as she becomes a mother her priorities often change. A working woman is expected to be a good wife and mother before anything else, never mind her professional status or skills. Many women themselves put a premium on being a good mother at the cost of their work or career. Society does not look kindly upon a woman who attains great success at work and has little time to devote to her home. It is as though womanhood is at stake if being a wife and mother does not take first place in the life of a woman, contrary to what it would be in the case of a man.

Stereotypes rule and strong beliefs persist about the negative effects of maternal employment on women, their marriages, and their children, despite systematic evidence to the contrary.

It is also assumed that a mother's being at work leads to social ills like school dropouts, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, and divorce.

The argument that working mothers have little time to spare for their family, does not take into account the hours of unpaid housework and domestic chores of a full-time housewife. Working mothers put aside quality time to spend with their family and can contribute to a more cheerful and positive family environment. By efficient and effective time management, a working mother is able to allocate time to her various roles as well as appreciate her own worth and importance.

Conclusions

In short, it is possible to be a woman, a mother, and an achiever. Many have done it with help from society, and others have battled endless odds to prove the same. In today's world it is both desirable and incumbent upon mothers to be working, like their spouses. We, in the developing world, and still in the throes of a culture and tradition of a male-oriented society, should acknowledge that, contrary to traditional belief that a working mother is not a good mother, a working mother can, in fact, be a better mother.

A working mother, especially the one who has the good fortune to be able to balance her home and work, thanks to all the factors mentioned above, enjoys the stimulation that a job or career provides. She not only feels better about herself but is also forced to take better care of herself in order to make an impression. Along with motherhood, a successful career adds to the completeness of being a woman. The major stresses of being a working mother remain lack of time, and a feeling of guilt, due to perceived neglect of the parenting role. The rewards are many, including personal benefits, financial rewards, and improved family life.

To enable this, considerable adjustments are necessary at the individual level and at the workplace, which help the mother to fulfill the dual responsibilities of career and motherhood.

Take Home Message

The working mother epitomizes modern womanhood. The modern work environment needs to consider the special needs of this working population, changing its orientation from male dominance to gender neutrality and parenting friendly behaviour. The joint family and the nuclear family unit both need to adjust to the needs of the working mother so as to allow a healthier family to develop.

Questions That This Paper Raises

  • 1) Is the profile of a working woman conducive to raising a healthy child as well as functioning adequately at the place of work?
  • 2) Is a working woman a norm and the housewife slowly becoming a rarity?
  • 3) Are radical reforms required to help a working woman cope with the dual stresses of motherhood and a career?
  • 4) Are more studies required to assess the impact of motherhood on proficiency in careers?

About the Author

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Dr Jayita Poduval is an alumnus of the Sir JJ Hospital and Grant Medical College Mumbai, and the Seth GS Medical College Mumbai. She is a practicing consultant ENT Surgeon at the Manipal teaching Hospital, Pokhara Nepal, and Assistant Professor at the Department of ENT at the Manipal College of Medical Sciences at Pokhara in Nepal .

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Dr Murali Poduval is an alumnus of the Sir JJ Hospital and Grant Medical College Mumbai, and the Seth GS Medical College Mumbai. Formerly, he was lecturer at the Department of Orthopedics at the KEM Hospital Mumbai. He is a practicing consultant Orthopedic Surgeon at the Manipal teaching Hospital, Pokhara Nepal, and Associate Professor at the Department of Orthopedics at the Manipal college of Medical Sciences at Pokhara in Nepal. He edits the Asian Journal of Orthopedics and Rheumatology .

Conflict of Interest: We declare no conflicts of interest, commercial or otherwise, in relation to the matter published in this article. As co-authors we share equal responsibility for the contents and views presented as part of this article.

Declaration: This is an original work and has not been submitted to any other journal for publication. It is not under consideration at any other journal.

CITATION: Jayita P., Murali P., (2009), Working Mothers: How Much Working, How Much Mothers, and Where Is the Womanhood?. In: Some Issues in Women's studies, and Other Essays (A.R. Singh and S.A. Singh eds.), MSM , 7, Jan - Dec 2009, p63-79.

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‘Why I Want a Wife’: The overwhelmed working mom who pined for a wife 50 years ago

A half-century ago, thousands of women’s liberation movement supporters packed into San Francisco’s Union Square. They joined about 100,000 more in cities across the country on Aug. 26, 1970, celebrating the 50th anniversary of women’s suffrage in a protest called the Women’s Strike for Equality . It was in that public space, during the first major demonstration of the modern women’s movement, that the world first heard activist Judy Brady Syfers publicly long for a wife.

“I want a wife who takes care of the children when they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care,” the housewife from San Francisco read into the microphone, her hands shaking during her first time ever speaking in front of a crowd.

“I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after me,” she stated, appealing to all housewives around the country whose husbands took them for granted.

“I want a wife who takes care of the children when they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes at school,” said Brady Syfers, who was married to a professor at nearby San Francisco State.

“I was terrified,” Brady Syfers recalled in a 2007 NPR radio interview. “There were lots of hecklers — up near the stage I can remember hearing them as I read, which only egged me on.”

When she finished her list of sometimes sarcastic, sometimes funny, but very realistic demands, the crowd of women roared as they recognized themselves in her words. The short satire was mentioned in television, radio and newspaper reports about the demonstration across the country, she said in a 2005 taped interview with her daughter, Maia Syfers.

A mother's letter, a son's choice and the incredible moment women won the right to vote

After that exhilarating moment, the essay went on to define the women’s movement of the 1970s. It resurfaces often as a feminist classic — a treatise about an imbalance between the sexes that still resonates today as the country marks the 100th anniversary of suffrage.

Earlier this year, as parents struggled to home-school their children during the pandemic, the New York Times commissioned a poll by Morning Consult on the division of labor between couples. Nearly half of fathers with children younger than 12 said they were devoting more time to educating their kids than their spouses, but just 3 percent of women agreed with that assessment.

Fifty years ago, “Why I Want a Wife” started simply as a housewife’s complaints about the lack of recognition for women’s work.

In 1968, Brady Syfers was a faculty wife with two small children. The end of that year her husband got involved with a strike at his university, San Francisco State, that called for creating a Black and ethnic studies department at the majority White school.

Brady Syfers opened up her house as a fundraising headquarters for the strike . Week after week, she organized, fed and worked with the student and faculty strikers, from 7 in the morning until late into the night. For the first time in her life, Brady Syfers was politically active, and she loved it.

“It was exhilarating to be involved in something outside the four walls of my home,” she said in the NPR interview.

When the strike ended five months later — the longest student-led strike in U.S. higher education history — the Black Student Union had a meeting celebrating its win and to thank participants who worked on the strike. Her husband, James Syfers, was given a note of special thanks for raising money. But Brady Syfers was never mentioned.

Feeling angry and unappreciated, “I decided it was time for me to look for the women’s movement,” she said in the 2005 interview.

She found a nearby women’s consciousness-raising group at San Francisco’s Glide Memorial Church, where she met Pam Allen, now known as Chude Allen.

“When I first met Judy, she described herself as a disenfranchised and fired housewife,” Allen said in a phone interview. “She was angry.”

The more Brady Syfers began examining her role in society, the angrier she became. It wasn’t just being overlooked during the student strike. She had faced sexism her whole life.

During college at the University of Iowa, she studied painting and was quite talented, according to Maia Syfers. That’s where she met James Syfers, her future husband. After earning a BFA, she wanted to pursue a master’s degree. To do so, she had to go before a committee who would recommend her to further her studies. At the meeting, the all-male committee told her that she had the talent but that there wasn’t much purpose in going for a master’s — because no university would hire a woman.

She was devastated, her daughter said.

In consciousness-raising meetings at Glide, Brady Syfers began to describe what Betty Friedan’s pioneering book, “ The Feminine Mystique ,” called “the problem that has no name.”

“I was an isolated housewife who had never worked outside the house, and I was badly depressed, miserable and confused about it,” Brady Syfers said in 2007. “I had no idea why I was so depressed.”

Except for “The Feminine Mystique,” Brady Syfers said there was no language in the late 1960s to talk about female unhappiness.

“If you wanted to know anything about women, you went to the Ladies’ Home Journal. That’s all there was,” she said in 2007.

She explained that nothing was written for, by and about women’s collective experience — their history, their psychology, their daily lives. In 1969, the three-year-old National Organization for Women was still considered a small group, Brady Syfers said in 2005.

The bra-burning feminist trope started at Miss America. Except, that’s not what really happened.

The women’s movement of the early 1970s “was an outgrowth of the civil rights movement,” she said. “But it was very much kind of sub rosa. And of course, it was treated scathingly by men and the media.”

Consciousness-raising groups were mocked by men, but Brady Syfers said the sessions were defiant political acts.

Women around the country were pooling personal experiences to create a social, historical analysis of women’s condition. It was a revolution in thinking, she said. Soon a whole women’s press movement publishing feminist pamphlets and underground newspapers exploded around the country, led by the radical Redstockings group in New York.

It was at a consciousness-raising group that Brady Syfers began listing her grievances about the strains of being a housewife. As she talked, the list grew longer and longer until finally someone in the group challenged her to write it down.

So she went home and started writing. Two hours later, she had finished “Why I Want a Wife.” She presented it at the next group meeting, and members applauded. Brady Syfers was thrilled with the response.

“Why I Want a Wife” was first published in a Bay-area feminist underground newspaper called “Tooth and Nail,” according to Allen. The essay began being reprinted in other feminist underground presses across the country during 1970 and 1971.

Meanwhile, in New York activist Gloria Steinem and a group of feminists including Letty Cotton Pogrebin began collecting stories to include in a national magazine to unite and give voice to women’s liberation followers across the nation. In December 1971, the inaugural issue of Ms. Magazine appeared as an insert in New York magazine. That issue included “Why I Want a Wife.”

“We reprinted it so more readers could have the laughter and wisdom that comes from reversing unequal roles,” Steinem wrote in an email.

“I wish it weren’t still relevant but even though many marriages have become more equal, Judy’s words live on,” Steinem said.

“It had a seismic impact,” Pogrebin said in a phone interview. “It didn’t exaggerate what sex roles were all about. Women were expected to do it all.”

Pogrebin pointed out that the theme of “Why I Want a Wife,” which was changed to “I Want a Wife” in Ms., matched the cover of the inaugural issue, which showed a multi-handed Hindu goddess as a housewife juggling more tasks than were humanly possible.

After its publication in Ms., “Why I Want a Wife” became known around the world. “My mother always kind of joked a little bit about ‘Why I Want a Wife,’ because it became so popular,” Syfers said. “It’s paid royalties every year since it was published in Ms. and hundreds of books.”

Brady Syfers ended up getting a divorce years later and reverted to her original name, Judy Brady. She remained an activist in San Francisco the rest of her life, fighting for the rights of women, the disabled and breast cancer survivors. In May 2017, she died at age 80 and a memorial service at the Women’s Building in San Francisco celebrated her life of activism, Maia Syfers said.

“She was proud of ‘Why I Want a Wife,” but I think she was surprised at how iconic it became. She said it came right from her gut.”

Read more Retropolis:

She coined the term ‘glass ceiling.’ She fears it will outlive her.

She said her boss raped her in a bank vault. Her sexual harassment case would make legal history.

She was attacked 50 years ago for being a woman in the Boston Marathon. Then she ran it again at 70.

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I’m a working mom and my 4-year-old son’s full-time medical caregiver. Here’s what life is like

Mom Whitney Stohr works in a room at Seattle Children's Hospital where her son, Malachi, regularly needs care for his complex medical issues.

It’s 11:17 p.m., and I just sat down to begin my workday.

Thank God I work from home.

Tonight, like so many nights over the past four and a half years, “home” is a hospital room.

My workspace is a fold-out bench-to-bed in the far corner of the room, with a direct line-of-sight to my son asleep in his hospital bed.

This is my workspace.

At least, it is one of my workspaces.

As a full-time working mom and a full-time medical caregiver to my 4-year-old son , I have many workspaces. My workspace is wherever my son needs me to be in that current moment, and bonus points if the space offers a sturdy seat or a dry spot of grass for my laptop.

Often, my workspace is the floor of the playroom in our home, responding to emails as he bulldozes towers of wooden blocks.

Whitney Stohr works in Malachi's playroom.

Sometimes, it is our kitchen counter as I participate in Zoom meetings while drawing up medications or measuring out precise ingredients for his meals.

Sometimes, it is in the car, answering phone calls while driving from developmental preschool to clinic appointments and therapy sessions.

Whitney Stohr heads to an evening work event with her husband and their son, Malachi.

Every evening at home, my workspace is the floor of my son’s bedroom, where he sleeps as I type, quietly crossing off projects from my to-do list, until the time arrives for “shift-change” when my husband takes over care for our son through the second half of the night.

But this night, my workspace is that trusty pull-out bench/bed in Room 323 on the third floor of the Forest Wing at Seattle Children’s Hospital .

Admittedly, it is not the most ideal workspace, hunched over a laptop resting on a fold-out chair, squinting into the dark. It may be far from an ideal work time as well.

Whitney Stohr creates a space to work on her laptop in a room at Seattle Children's Hospital.

And yet, this workspace, this work time, is a setting I know well. It is one in which I have developed a sense of comfort over time — over countless hospitalizations, weeks and months spent in a room just like this one.

Some days, this workspace offers more comfort than the place we actually call “home.” At least, that is true on the hard days — the days when the best place you can be is right here in this room.

I am a Medical Mom, after all.

Holding the title of “Medical Mom” means that I am the parent of a child with a medical diagnosis of disability. I am a nurse without official credentials. I am a therapist without the academic degree. I am a pharmacist despite never completing a single course that could even remotely prepare me for the level of responsibility I now hold. I am many things to my very medically complex child, and I have been since the day he was born.

Related story: Meet the families lobbying to keep their kids with disabilities at home

Being his mom — and his Medical Mom — is my favorite thing in the world.

It is the singular role at which I am my best self. I must be at my best — always. Caregiving requires it.

And yet, I still recognize the me that exists beyond motherhood, and beyond even medical motherhood.

I am a woman, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a pet owner, an activist, a philanthropist, an academic, a community volunteer — and also, of course, a medical mom.

Moms can be many things, certainly, extending far beyond their parental status.

Whitney Stohr is pictured working and living with her family in an RV during home accessibility renovations in 2021.

However, becoming a Medical Mom and a Family Caregiver of a child with disabilities has meant fighting like hell to remember that I am that multitude. It means fighting to maintain my own identity outside of caregiving, beyond the boundaries of my role as a Medical Mom. It means fighting for the space in my day to pursue my own interests and follow my own passions, while also being everything my child needs me to be at all times .

Related essay: Mourning the person you were before you became a mom

It is challenging to strike that delicate balance between the self you know as an individual and the self you must maintain as a caregiver.

It never stops challenging me.

Because without that everyday fight, caregiving responsibilities can and do consume you. It happens quickly and completely until, one day, you realize you have forgotten everything about yourself outside of who you are as a caregiver. You no longer have interests or hobbies or dreams for your future. The whole of your identity is wrapped up in the support role you play in a life in which you no longer have a voice.

I know because I have been there.

Whitney Stohr with her son, Malachi.

It is a lonely and isolating place fraught with the weight of responsibility of life-and-death consequences. It is a place that slowly eats away at your physical health and your mental well-being. It takes a toll.

There is, unquestionably, a price to be paid for a life consumed with caregiving.

Related essay: My kids think their disabled brother is my favorite

And so, I fight for my own self within and beyond my identity as a caregiver.

And, in that fight, I have grown comfortable in uncomfortable places. I manage uncomfortable situations. Often, scary situations. Sometimes, quite literally, life-threatening situations.

And then, when all is calm again, when the lights are turned down and vitals are stable, I pull out my laptop and begin my workday.

Whitney Stohr finds time to work during Malachi's first camping trip.

And I will do it again tomorrow, just like this — caregiving always; working whenever and wherever the situation lands me.

This is, after all, the workspace of a Medical Mom, who just so happens to moonlight as the same woman she was before she became that Medical Mom — chasing the dreams, goals and ambitions she refuses to let die.

Whitney Stohr is a nonprofit program manager whose work focuses on leadership development and disability advocacy. She is a full-time family caregiver and “Medical Mom” who works from home and hospital (or wherever caregiving may take her), always with her son Malachi by her side. Find her on Instagram   @rollin.w.spinabifida .

Related video:

Whitney Stohr is a nonprofit program manager whose work focuses on leadership development and disability advocacy. She is a full-time family caregiver and “Medical Mom” who works from home and hospital (or wherever caregiving may take her), always with her son Malachi by her side. Find her on Instagram  @rollin.w.spinabifida .

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Chapter 4: public views on staying at home vs. working.

What’s Best for Children?

Men (65%) are somewhat more likely than women to say children are better off when a parent stays home. But even among women, 55% say having a parent at home is better for a child. Four-in-ten women say children are just as well off when their parents work outside the home.

Demographic Groups Differ Over What’s Better for Children

Views also differ significantly by educational attainment, with support for working parents rising as educational levels rise, though in no group does a majority say children are just as well off when their parents work. Among college graduates, 51% say children are better off with a parent at home to focus on the family, while 43% say children are just as well off when a parent works. And college-educated women are one of the few groups in which a plurality (50%) say children are just as well off with working parents. By contrast, among adults with a high school diploma or less education, fully 66% say children are better off with a parent at home and only 30% say children do just as well with working parents. Adults with some college education, but not a bachelor’s degree, fall in the middle–60% say having a parent at home is preferable, and 35% say it doesn’t matter either way.

Religious affiliation is also strongly correlated with views on this issue. Among white evangelical Protestants, 69% say it’s better for children if a parent is at home to focus on the family, and 26% say children are just as well off when their parents work outside the home. White mainline Protestants and white Catholics are more evenly split on this question, although each group leans toward saying that it is better for children to have a parent at home. Adults who are not affiliated with any religion are among the least likely to say children are better off with a parent at home (46%). About half (50%) say children are just as well off when their parents work outside the home.

Previous polling has shown that the public clearly differentiates between mothers and fathers when considering what is best for children. In a 2013 Pew Research survey , respondents were asked whether children are better off if their mother is home and doesn’t hold a job, or if they are just as well off if their mother works. Some 51% of respondents said that children are better off if their mother is at home, while 34% said they are just as well off with a working mother. And, in a separate question, they were asked about fathers and their children. Only 8% of all adults said that children are better off if their father is home and doesn’t hold a job, while 76% said children are just as well off if their father works.

That same 2013 survey found that while the public recognizes the clear economic benefits of having more mothers in the workplace, many voice concerns about the toll this is having on children. Roughly two-thirds of adults (67%) say the increasing number of women working for pay outside the home has made it easier for families to earn enough to live comfortably. But at the same time, 74% say this trend has made it harder for parents to raise children.

Asked what the ideal situation is for young children , the share of Americans who say having a mother who does not work outside the home is ideal has declined since a 2009 Pew Research Center survey, when 43% said so, to 2012, when 33% did. A plurality (42%) in 2012 said having a mother who works part time is ideal for young children, while 16% said a full-time working mother is ideal. When the question was asked from the mother’s point of view—which situation is ideal for women with young children—the results were similar: 33% in 2012 said not working at all was ideal, compared with 39% who said so in 2009.

No Turning Back for Women

Similarly, views about what is best for women also have evolved. In spite of the public’s ambivalence about the role of mothers and the merits of staying at home versus working, very few adults believe that society should turn back the clock. Pew Research has been tracking views on this issue for 25 years. In 2012 , only 18% of adults agreed that women should return to their traditional role in society. This is down from 30% who endorsed this idea in 1987. Over the same period, the share of adults who completely disagree that women should return to their traditional roles has risen from 29% to 58%.

In a Pew Research Center survey in 2012 , a plurality of working and stay-at-home mothers said that the ideal situation for them is to work part time. Only 36% of stay-at-home mothers said that not working at all is ideal for them. The share of stay-at-home mothers who said that not working at all is their ideal situation has fallen since 2007, when 48% said so.

Mothers, More than Fathers, Experience Career Interruptions

There is also a middle ground for parents between working and staying at home, and some adults move in and out of these categories over the course of their careers.

A recent Pew Research survey found that women are much more likely than men to report having had a significant career interruption related to family caregiving. Among adults who have ever worked, fully 42% of mothers say they have reduced their work hours in order to care for a child or other family member. This compares with 28% of fathers. And roughly the same share of mothers (39%) say they have taken a significant amount of time off from work in order to care for a family member (compared with 24% of fathers). About one-quarter of mothers (27%) with some work experience say at some point in their working life they quit their job in order to care for a child or other family member.

  • These findings are based on a Pew Research survey conducted Jan. 23-Feb. 9, 2014, among 3,341 adults nationwide. The full survey report has not yet been released. ↩
  • The 58% figure is based on men under age 50 to avoid including older men who may be fathers but whose children are age 18 or older. ↩

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Young adults in the u.s. are less likely than those in most of europe to live in their parents’ home, a majority of young adults in the u.s. live with their parents for the first time since the great depression, as millennials near 40, they’re approaching family life differently than previous generations, as family structures change in u.s., a growing share of americans say it makes no difference, with billions confined to their homes worldwide, which living arrangements are most common, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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Brian Peck Charges: A Full Rundown Of The 11 Crimes He Was Accused Of

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Trigger Warning: This article contains depiction of sexual assault. If you’re watching the ID documentary series, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV , you might be wondering what exactly Brian Peck’s charges were. Former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell came forward about his experiences with the acting coach.

“My name is Drake Bell and I came here today to tell my story,” Bell says during the documentary’s third episode. In one instance of his interview, he revealed that he was sexually abused by Peck.

“I was sleeping on the couch where I would usually sleep. I woke up to him — I opened my eyes, I woke up and he was sexually assaulting me. I froze and was in complete shock and had no idea what to do or how to react, and I have no idea how to get out of this situation,” Bell said, who was 15 years old at the time and didn’t know what to do. Peck was “so apologetic,” saying it would never happen again.

Watch ‘Quiet on Set’ With DirecTV

“He figured out how to convince my mom and everyone around to, anytime I would have an audition or anytime I needed to work on dialogue or anything, I somehow ended up back at Brian’s house and it just got worse and worse and worse and worse. I was just trapped. I had no way out,” said Bell. “The abuse was extensive and it got pretty brutal. I don’t know how to elaborate on that on camera, really… Why don’t you think of the worst stuff that someone could do to somebody as a sexual assault, and then I’ll answer your question. I don’t know how else to put it.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

Brian Peck's Charges

Brian Peck was charged with 11 counts against the child actor in 2003. Those of which included: of a lewd act upon a child; sodomy of a person under 16; attempted sodomy of a person under 16; sexual penetration by a foreign object; four counts of oral copulation of a person under 16; oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance; sending harmful matter; and using a minor for sex acts. 

A year later, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender. After he was released from prison, Peck landed a job at Disney Channel for the show  The Suite Life Of Zach & Cody.  However, Variety reported that  he was terminated  after they learned of his history. Court documents obtained by the Daily Mail stated that Peck is only “prohibited from direct contact with children, not from being part of productions in which children are acting.” When asked about the documentary Peck said he “had no comment on it.”

Directors of the documentary Mary Robertson and Emma Schwartz discussed the process of unsealing the court documents that weren’t available to the public. “We began hearing from people who had been at Nickelodeon around this time that they had been asked to write letters of support. I had been a court reporter so I knew in general that letters of support are supposed to be public documents,” Schwartz explained about letters that James Marsden, Alan Thicke, and Taran Killam wrote.

“But when we went to the court, they were not public. So we spoke with our lawyers and we said, ‘What can we do?’ And they said, ‘Well, you can petition the court to unseal them.’” She continued: “That’s in fact what we did. And the court agreed to release those letters. We didn’t know what we would find. We didn’t know who would be in there. And that’s what you see in the documentary.”

On March 24, 2024, in an episode of the show   La Entrevista con Yordi Rosado , Bell detailed how shocked he was that Peck was still working in Hollywood after his conviction. “I remember one time I saw him at a restaurant and he was at the table with like 10 or 12 actors, all male actors between the ages of 14 and 16, and I walked in and saw him,” Bell recalled. “I saw that he was right back to what he was doing and I turned around and left.”

What happened to Drake Bell?

Drake Bell

In 2021, Bell was arrested in Ohio on June 5 and charged with attempted endangerment of a child and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. He pleaded not guilty to the charges at the time, which allegedly stem from a 2017 internet chat. He agreed to have no contact with the alleged victim in the case. After a hearing on June 23, 2021, Bell pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation and 200 hours of community service. “I accept this plea because my conduct was wrong,” Bell said, according to  The Associated Press . “I’m sorry the victim was harmed. It was not my intention.”

The victim, who was 19 at the time of the hearing, claimed that Bell began to groom her when she was 12 years old. She said she initially felt loved and protected by him during online chats and that his messages became “blatantly sexual” after she turned 15. She said his remarks made her feel uncomfortable, but she felt trapped because she “idolized” him. “I was definitely one of his biggest fans,” said the woman. “I would have done anything for him.” The woman said that she and Bell exchanged explicit photos online and engaged in sexual conduct with her on several occasions. She called Bell a “pedophile” and a “coward.” The Cuyahoga County Judge Timothy McCormick who presided over the case told Bell, “The fact of the matter is your position and celebrity status let you nurture this relationship. You were able to gain access to this child.”

Bell posted an  Instagram video  explaining the matter. “I want to make clear that there were no sexual images, nothing physical between me and this individual. I was not charged with anything physical. I was not charged with disseminating of photographs or images or anything like that. This is strictly over text messages. And when I was presented with a plea deal, because of the messages, I felt that it was the best way to get this over quickly, and for everyone involved to be able to move on, and for me to get back to doing what I love, and that’s making music for you.”

Who wrote letters of support for Brian Peck?

working mom essay

Boy Meets World stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong talked on their podcast Pod Meets World about how they regret supporting Brian Peck when he was arrested in 2003. The duo detailed that the producer made time to spend with them. “This was the type of thing where the person he presented was this great, funny guy who was really good at his job, and you wanted to hang out with,” said Friedle. “I saw him every day, hung out with him every day, talked to him every day.” They also disclosed that they “spent a lot of time together outside of work.”

“We’re sitting in that courtroom on the wrong side of everything … The victim’s mother turned and said, ‘Look at all the famous people you brought with you. And it doesn’t change what you did to my kid,’” Friedle shared. “I just sat there wanting to die. It was like, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’ It was horrifying all the way around.”

“We weren’t told the whole story, but it doesn’t change the fact that we did it. I still can’t get the words out to describe all of the things that I’m feeling inside of myself.”

Friedle continued, “There’s an actual victim here. And he turned us against the victim to where now we’re on his team. That’s the thing where, to me, I look back at that as my ever-loving shame for this entire [thing],” he said. “Getting taken in by somebody who’s a good actor and a manipulator, I could chalk that up to being young and that’s the way it is. It’s awful. I’m going to use that for my growth as a human being, but when there’s an actual victim involved and now I’m on the abuser’s side, that’s the thing I can’t get over and haven’t been able to get over.”

In the documentary, All That stars Giovonnie Samuels and Bryan Hearne talked about their relationship with Peck who worked on the show. “ We would run lines with him all the time. He signed my ‘All That’ yearbook,” said Samuels of Peck. “We were invited to his house for parties and things.

“We were all under this naive cloak of, ‘We’re a family, we all hang out,’” she added. “‘This is normal. This is common that an adult would want to be friends with a child.“

During Peck’s trial, James Marsden wrote a letter of support, “I assure you what Brian has been through in the last year is the suffering of 100 men,” adding that he has known Peck since he was a teenager.

"I'm Glad My Mom Died" by Jennette McCurdy

‘I’m Glad My Mom Died’ by Jennette McCurdy

For more on the alleged abuse within Nickelodeon, read Jennette McCurdy’s 2022 memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died . In #1 The New York Times bestseller, McCurdy, who starred as Sam Puckett on Nickelodeon’s iCarly from 2007 to 2012, opens up about growing up as a child star, her time on Nickelodeon, and the alleged abuse she suffered from her late mother, who died while Puckett was starring on the iCarly spinoff, Sam & Cat . “Told with refreshing candor and dark humor, I’m Glad My Mom Died is an inspiring story of resilience, independence, and the joy of shampooing your own hair,” the publisher’s description reads.

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What the Fani Willis Ruling Says About the Criminal Justice System

Trump and his allies had the resources to push back against the prosecution’s conduct. many defendants don’t..

Jeremy Schulman

Jeremy Schulman

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DA Fani Willis testifying

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis testifies during a February hearing in Donald Trump's Georgia election case. Alyssa Pointer/Pool/AP

Much has already been written about Judge Scott McAfee’s ruling Friday allowing Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, to continue overseeing the prosecution of Donald Trump and his co-defendants for allegedly conspiring to steal the 2020 election in Georgia. As my colleague Pema Levy explained , this was a momentous decision—one that means, at least for now, that the case with the most far-reaching criminal charges against the GOP presidential candidate and his allies will continue to move forward.

But another aspect of the ruling has gotten less attention: what it says about the conduct of prosecutors and about the state of the criminal justice system as a whole. And what it says isn’t good—especially for defendants who don’t have the same resources that Donald Trump does. As journalists Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman note in their recently released book Find Me the Votes , Willis ran for office in 2020 as a tough-on-crime prosecutor. Like other DAs across the country, she has faced criticism from progressives and civil libertarians over her law-and-order approach in cases where the accused are far more disadvantaged than the former president. It’s hard to imagine that every criminal defendant in Georgia will enjoy the same opportunity Trump did to interrogate the actions of prosecutors.

Trump’s opportunity to confront the DA’s office was extensive, indeed. After days of hearings prying into the personal and professional lives of Willis and her colleagues, McAfee rejected the defendants’ argument that the DA’s romantic relationship with Nathan Wade—the outside attorney she’d hired to investigate and prosecute the case—amounted to an “actual conflict of interest” under which Willis had supposedly benefited financially. Even so, McAfee found that there was still a “significant appearance of impropriety” that could only be remedied if either Willis—and with her the entire Fulton DA’s office—or Wade, stepped aside. Wade promptly resigned , which means the case will proceed in Fulton County rather than entering a protracted legal limbo.

McAfee was scathing . He wrote that while the defense had failed to prove that Wade and Willis had been romantically involved before Wade’s hiring, “the District Attorney chose to continue supervising and paying Wade while maintaining such a relationship.” McAfee opined that Wade’s “patently unpersuasive explanation” for inaccurate statements he had made in his own divorce case “indicates a willingness on his part to wrongly conceal his relationship with the District Attorney.” All this could leave Georgians to “reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences” were Wade to continue on the prosecution team, the judge found.

“An odor of mendacity remains,” wrote McAfee, prompting “reasonable questions” about whether Willis and Wade “testified untruthfully about the timing of their relationship.” 

McAfee’s order, the judge wrote , “is by no means an indication that the Court condones this tremendous lapse in judgment or the unprofessional manner” of Willis’ testimony during a hearing on the matter. Georgia law, he explained, simply did not “permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices—even repeatedly.” The judge went on to say that televised remarks Willis had recently made about the case were “legally improper,” and he threatened to bar prosecutors from further discussing the case in public.

And while McAfee declined to throw out the case or disqualify Willis from prosecuting it, he suggested that there are other entities—”such as the General Assembly, the Georgia State Ethics Commission, the State Bar of Georgia, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, or the voters of Fulton County”—that could  hold the DA accountable.

On a moral level, Trump is obviously guilty of attempting to pull off a coup. His actions tore the nation apart and destroyed people’s lives. He may well be guilty legally, as well. But he is entitled to a fair trial and, with democracy on the line, it’s good that defense attorneys, judges, and other officials are closely scrutinizing the DA’s actions. Yet a lot of people less powerful than Trump are prosecuted in Fulton County, too. Rightly or wrongly, their liberty is in jeopardy, as well. And their cases won’t always receive that same scrutiny.

In pursuing Trump and his cronies, Willis has long maintained that she is treating the former president no differently than any other defendant. In their book, Isikoff and Klaidman recount how Willis persuaded the Fulton County sheriff to subject Trump to a mugshot after his indictment. “If you don’t mugshot him, you’re going to need to explain to our constituents why you mugshot their nephews and not the president of the United States,” she argued. “He needs to be treated like everybody else.”

That equal treatment works both ways. Trump and his well-heeled allies have an army of high-priced lawyers who can protect their rights in the face of prosecutors’ improper conduct. A lot of Willis’ other constituents don’t.

working mom essay

Fani Willis Can Remain in Charge of Trump Prosecution in Georgia

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IMAGES

  1. The Working Mom versus the Stay at Home Mom Free Essay Example

    working mom essay

  2. How To Write An Essay About Your Mom

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  3. 🐈 Essay about your mom. How My Mom Impacted My Life Essay. 2022-10-17

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  4. Write short essay on 'My Mother'

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  5. 60+ Inspirational Working Mom Quotes That Every Mama Can Relate To

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  6. The problems of working mother english essay || english essay

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COMMENTS

  1. Mother's Essay About Her Working Mom Identity

    Being a working mom is important to my identity, because building my dream also builds my child's future. I don't want to say my life stopped because I had kids. I had kids, and then I continued. But this time, with more passion and more drive. Because I want my kids to see how much I love what I do so that they chase after their dreams and ...

  2. Essay on Working Mothers

    Students are often asked to write an essay on Working Mothers in their schools and colleges. And if you're also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic. Let's take a look… 100 Words Essay on Working Mothers The Importance of Working Mothers. Working mothers play a pivotal role in our society.

  3. Becoming a Working Mom Boosted My Career

    According to Motherly's 2022 State of Motherhood survey, 34% of millennial and Gen Z moms who are currently working feel frustrated when it comes to combining career and motherhood, saying they want both but need a new arrangement at work to make that realistic. Another 25% are optimistic that it is possible to creatively combine motherhood ...

  4. Overcoming The Challenges Of Being A Working Mom

    One of the hardest jobs in the entire world. As a working mom myself, I can attest that the challenges we face are plentiful. They can range from feelings of guilt to the struggle to achieve an ...

  5. Essay on Working Mothers

    Essay on Working Mothers. It is often said that, "Man's work ends at sun set. Women's work is never done." With sixty-three million women working and 62% of those women maintaining families, most women would this statement very true (AFL-CIO). While women are expanding their lives to include a career, they must also maintain their traditional ...

  6. Having a Working Mother Is Good For You

    The working mother study, authored by Harvard Business School professor Kathleen McGinn, HBS researcher Mayra Ruiz Castro, and Elizabeth Long Lingo of Mt. Holyoke College, found that women with working mothers performed better in the workplace, earning more and possessing more powerful positions than their peers with stay-at-home mothers.. In the United States, adult daughters of working ...

  7. Working Mom Support System Personal Essay

    March 6, 2018, 11:15 AM. Three years ago, following a disastrous attempt to bring my children on a work trip that culminated in an ER visit, a cancelled meeting, and a bruised-but-fine child, an ...

  8. Working Mom's Powerful Essay Shows The Reality Of 'Having It All'

    Sarah Treem knows that being a working mom is veritable roller coaster ride of emotions and hard decisions. As the creator of the Golden Globe-winning television show, "The Affair," and mother of two children under 5, she's become a public face of successful work-life balance. But Treem opened up about the difficult reality behind the ...

  9. Being a Working Mom During the Pandemic: What It's Like

    Essay by Conz Preti. 2021-09-17T15:47:32Z ... We, as a society, need to keep talking about this — not only to get actual change for working parents, especially moms, but also to keep ...

  10. Lessons from a Working Mom on "Doing It All"

    Francesca Gino. Summary. How does anyone effectively juggle a busy family life and career — especially during the Covid-19 crisis. No one will do it perfectly. The key is to reset expectations ...

  11. Benefits Of Being A Working Mother: [Essay Example], 880 words

    Being a working mom improves their children's independence and ability to handle stress. Further, working enhances the woman's satisfaction and happiness, transforms mothers into individuals with fully developed personalities, and augments marital bonds by transforming women into a positive influence within their homes.

  12. Is the Old Dichotomy of 'Working Mom' Versus 'Stay at Home Mom ...

    In her 2019 book Making Motherhood Work, Washington University sociologist Caitlyn Collins included an interview with a woman named Chelsea, who dubbed this flexible, ever-changing interplay of work and family responsibilities "the swirl.". When you're a working mom, there is no hard line between work and home.

  13. To the Working Mom Who's Also a Stay at Home Mom

    In this essay, a mother talks about the challenges of being a working mom and stay-at-home mom and shares her experience of finding balance. Category : Work & Motherhood, Motherly Stories. At the end of the day, we don't want our children to say that mama did it all. We want them to know that mama did what she could, and that was more than ...

  14. How American moms juggled work and parenting responsibilities during

    A mother kisses her children goodbye before going to work. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/The Washington Post/Getty Images) The coronavirus pandemic has created new challenges and reinforced existing ones for many working mothers in the United States. For Mother's Day, here is a look at American moms' experiences juggling work and parenting responsibilities during the COVID-19 outbreak, based on ...

  15. Working Mothers: How Much Working, How Much Mothers, And Where Is The

    A working mother from a joint family may need much less leave than a single mother, or a woman from a nuclear family and with no child support systems in the family. ... Some Issues in Women's studies, and Other Essays (A.R. Singh and S.A. Singh eds.), MSM, 7, Jan - Dec 2009, p63-79. References. 1. Abdulwadud O.A., Snow M.E. Interventions in ...

  16. Working Mothers Essays: Examples, Topics, & Outlines

    Working Parent Working full time while being a parent to two children is one of the most challenging positions to be in. According to Barrow (2006), most working parents spend just 19 minutes a day looking after their children. The situation is more intense for working mothers than fathers, as record numbers of women are working full time while also contending with mortgages, household bills ...

  17. 'Why I Want a Wife': Feminist Judy Brady Syfer's essay appeals to

    Advertisement. "I want a wife who takes care of the children when they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes ...

  18. Working Mothers Essay

    Working Mothers Essays. Working Mothers Carrie Grubb Axia College of University of Phoenix Working Mothers In previous generations, women had one role to accomplish; to care for their children. As mothers, women were required to play the role of June Cleaver. Mothers need to care for the children and keep the home in smooth working order.

  19. (PDF) Exploring the Challenges Faced by Working Mothers and the

    The purpose of this exploratory study was to explore the challenges faced by working mothers in the education sector and the perceived policies and strategies to retain them in their current jobs.

  20. Working Mom And Medical Caregiver Whitney Stohr Pens Essay ...

    Whitney Stohr. Whitney Stohr is a nonprofit program manager whose work focuses on leadership development and disability advocacy. She is a full-time family caregiver and "Medical Mom" who ...

  21. Working Mom vs. Stay-at-Home Mom: A Comparative Analysis

    This essay compares the experiences of working moms and stay-at-home moms, exploring the benefits and drawbacks of each choice, and advocating for respect and support for all mothers, regardless of their chosen path. Don't use plagiarized sources. Get your custom essay on. Firstly, the decision to be a working mom or a stay-at-home mom depends ...

  22. Comparing Stay-at-Home Moms and Working Moms

    Two-thirds of cohabiting stay-at-home mothers (66%) have a high school diploma at most, compared with 39% of working cohabiting mothers. Only 5% have at least a college education, compared with 17% of cohabiting working mothers. Most are poor (88%), compared with a third (32%) of their working counterparts.

  23. Public Views on Moms Staying at Home vs. Working

    In spite of the public's ambivalence about the role of mothers and the merits of staying at home versus working, very few adults believe that society should turn back the clock. Pew Research has been tracking views on this issue for 25 years. In 2012, only 18% of adults agreed that women should return to their traditional role in society.

  24. How To Transition From A Full-Time Mom To Full-Time Career Woman

    Whether you continue as a stay-at-home mom, transition to a full-time career, or pick up some part-time work to supplement your "mom time" is entirely up to you. No "one size fits all" solution ...

  25. Brian Peck Charges, Court Transcripts in Drake Bell ...

    On March 24, 2024, in an episode of the show La Entrevista con Yordi Rosado, Bell detailed how shocked he was that Peck was still working in Hollywood after his conviction. "I remember one time ...

  26. What the Fani Willis Ruling Says About the Criminal ...

    But another aspect of the ruling has gotten less attention: what it says about the conduct of prosecutors and about the state of the criminal justice system as a whole. And what it says isn't ...