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To Work or Not to Work
The Mother's Dilemma
By Tamar Krantman Weiss
adults must work, others intoning that in order to be a good mother, a woman's life had to revolve around that of her child. Today, women who want to return to the workforce often don't, says Professor Williams, "in order to preserve time with their children."
Laura, a young mother of two, felt that after being at home with her second child for a year, she "was having a brain meltdown. I felt that I wasn't growing in ways outside of the home...I was doing my best at mothering, but being a mother doesn't mean being with your kids 24 hours a day." Laura found a job that she felt would improve her career options -- and allow her to be home by 3 p.m. for her kids.
This is not to say that women don't have a difficult time juggling career and family. It is impossible to be supermom and employee of the week at the same time. "Don't blame yourself if you feel you are serving many masters and pleasing none," says Professor Williams. "Your sense of inadequacy does not reflect personal failings, but a system in which the way we define the ideal