feminism

Starting a mother-friendly campaign at work

Thumbnail image for Starting a mother-friendly campaign at work August 16, 2010

A few weeks ago, someone named Sarah* left a comment on my blog saying she was starting a “mother-friendly campaign” at work. I’d never heard of such a thing. A mother-friendly campaign? What does that look like? Is it for coworkers? HR? Company executives? New mothers? Is it about changing attitudes, or policy, or both? [...]

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Work-life balance: Finding the Swede spot

July 26, 2010

A quiet revolution has been taking place in Sweden for 15 years, affecting everything from the gender pay gap to workplace culture to relationships between parents and children. It all started at home. Here’s a link to the fascinating New York Times story about this phenomenon. Now here’s my distilled version—with original illustrations! This Swedish [...]

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Who clips the nails? (Part IV. How it got this way)

Thumbnail image for Who clips the nails? (Part IV. How it got this way) July 21, 2010

This is part of a series of posts about how working couples share the under-the-radar chores that, taken together, represent the “psychic burden” of parenting. Be sure to read these parts first: Part I. Survey results Part II. Why it’s fair Part III. Why it’s not fair My last post explored how parents (mostly moms) [...]

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Who clips the nails? (Part III. Why it’s not fair)

Thumbnail image for Who clips the nails? (Part III. Why it’s not fair) July 20, 2010

This is part of a series of posts about how working couples share the under-the-radar chores that, taken together, represent the “psychic burden” of raising children. Be sure to read these parts first: Part I. Survey results Part II. Why it’s fair My last post looked at why half of the parents surveyed felt they [...]

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Who clips the nails? (Part I. Survey results)

Thumbnail image for Who clips the nails? (Part I. Survey results) July 14, 2010

This is the first of a series of posts about how working couples share the under-the-radar tasks that, taken together, represent the “psychic burden” of parenting. Even though studies show fathers are changing more diapers and folding more laundry than ever, mothers are still bearing most of the “psychic burden” of parenting—the scheduling, organizing, and [...]

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Working parents in the wild

Thumbnail image for Working parents in the wild June 1, 2010

Anthropologists are starting to pay attention to a growing tribe of humans: dual-income, multiple-child, middle-class Americans. In other words, families like mine…It got me thinking: What would these young, childless, career-minded graduate students see if they filmed every waking moment in my home this week?

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Herd feelings

May 24, 2010

People keep telling me how brave I am to write about my nervous breakdown on this blog. I don’t feel brave. Actually I’m quite sensitive and I worry about what other people think. It helps that more than 100 women and men, parents and non-parents, have sent emails or written comments on the blog about [...]

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Divas, madonnas, and working mamas

Thumbnail image for Divas, madonnas, and working mamas May 14, 2010

The other day I saw Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the First Lady of San Francisco, speak at the Commonwealth Club about women and the media. She’s producing a very ambitious documentary called “Miss Representation,” about how the media under-represents women in positions of power and influence. She showed a short clip of the film, which included [...]

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Letter from Tennessee

May 5, 2010

In the last few months I’ve gotten several emails from women (and men) who found the blog and wrote in with their own stories. I love reading these stories but rarely share them. This one from a woman named Tammy in Tennessee was particularly touching to me. I decided to share it with you (with [...]

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Rebecca’s Spring Break (Part II.)

April 16, 2010

“So we’re getting ready to go. I sit down with Ella to brush her hair, and that’s when I see two nits.”

“That’s too much!” I said. “The cough with the peeing. The foot surgery. The whale watching fiasco. And then lice?…It’s unreal…Can you turn your head a little?”

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