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review 2013-10-22 12:35
Aiming for Equal
Getting to 50/50: How Working Parents Can Have It All - Sharon Meers,Joanna Strober,Sheryl Sandberg

Getting to 50/50 suggests a new framework for considering family and work that will appeal to experienced professionals and those just starting their careers.

 

Is gender equality fostered by having more women in the workforce, or getting men more involved on the homefront? Have we been concentrating on only half of the equation, ignoring an important aspect of work-life balance: men’s contributions? The authors of Getting to 50/50: How Working Parents Can Have It All say the answer is definitely “yes.”

 

In the latest edition of their provocative book, experienced executives Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober consider decades of social science research and personal experience that support the notion that couples’ equal distribution of child care and professional pursuits benefits not only women, but their husbands and children, too.

Getting to 50/50, originally published in 2009, was a timely title in the year women achieved a majority presence in the workforce. An updated edition seems warranted, considering the vast economic changes that accompanied the ensuing recession. Aside from adding a new introduction by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, however, Meers and Strober do not update their data for the 2013 edition.

 

It’s still interesting to learn that children of working and stay-at-home mothers are equally happy with the amount of time they spend with Mom, or that couples who split household duties in half also cut their odds of divorce by fifty percent. New information about the difficulties in finding satisfying, well-paying work in a drastically altered economy, though, would increase the book’s currency.

 

Meers, a longtime managing director at Goldman Sachs, and Strober, a venture capital investment veteran, write clearly for a wide audience, drawing on academic studies, popular books, and personal interviews. The authors lay out their book in three parts: they consider the benefits of two-career families; debunk popular myths associated with working families; and offer practical advice for the modern family trying to navigate these uncharted waters. The information is well-documented in chapter-specific notes, and the authors offer an extensive reference list for further research.

 

While their arguments are well-supported by evidence, Meers and Strober concentrate so much on studies that back their call for dual earner households that we may wonder if they have chosen to avoid more critical findings. Consideration of both sides—more attention to the “small number” of children they report may be adversely affected by day care, for instance—would lend additional authority to their position.

 

Getting to 50/50 suggests a new framework for considering family and work that will appeal to experienced professionals and those just starting their careers. The average worker may find it less relevant, as the focus is on upper echelon CEO-type positions, but all types of families can benefit from shifting perspective from competition between men and women, to cooperation that improves life for everyone involved.

 

Sheila M. Trask for ForeWord Reviews
October 21, 2013

Source: www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/getting-to-50-50
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review 2013-08-01 19:25
Working Moms, You're Not Alone
Maxed Out: American Moms on the Brink - Katrina Alcorn

This book is for every mother who ever wondered why she seemed to be in charge of everything, and felt so very, very alone with her responsibilities. Katrina Alcorn is here to tell you: It's not you.

 

It's every parent in the United States struggling to maintain some career clout, or just make ends meet, while raising a family.

 

Alcorn knows how it is, and shares her story here, not just to express her own emotions (although she does this with great clarity and humility) but also to bring awareness to the growing problems of American families who are stressed to their wit's ends by trying to hold it all together day by day.

 

Alcorn has it all: a supportive husband, an understanding boss, an enviable job, and a beautiful new baby. And then another baby. And a stepdaughter. She's sure that, as long as nothing ever goes wrong, she can handle the commute, the clients, the daycare pickup and dropoff, the housework, the bedtime routine, etc. It's all perfectly organized on that giant spreadsheet she keeps on the refrigerator door. Unfortunately, life does not conform to the rows and columns on a spreadsheet, and it all comes tumbling down.

 

As a mother who once got almost to daycare and work when her 1-year-old vomited all over the back seat of the car, I know how fast it can fall apart. I appreciated Alcorn's honesty about her experience, and her willingness to share it. So many women think they are the only ones, but it's simply not true.

 

I also liked the way Alcorn framed her story with facts. She includes information about workplace rights for nursing mothers, statistics about family leave laws in our country and others, and analysis of employment trends over the past several decades. This information makes it clear that her story is not unique.

 

(Read from an ARC provided by NetGalley; Due out August 28, 2013)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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review 2013-08-01 00:00
7 Myths of Working Mothers: Why Children and (Most) Careers Just Don't Mix - Suzanne Venker,Laura C. Schlessinger This is bullshit.

There are so many things wrong with it that I want to just find a copy and burn it.
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