Why Are Companies Still So Inflexible With Working Mothers?

I am self employed and work from home. Http://www.workathometipsandsecrets.info I'm my own boss!

You can't do it all at the same time. Stay at home with you kids or don't have them.

so basically you are the real family and the blood family just babysits.

Wow. I'm not sure that this is a healthy solution. Those poor kids.

Sure they can as long as they work their 8 hours. The issue in the original article was that the writer was supposed to be off work at 5PM. There should be no meetings after that time so that she can't leave as scheduled. She did not have the option of flexible hours or I am sure she would have gone in earlier just in case something happened.

I had flex-hours at my last job and went in at 7am and left at 3:30 or so (often later); it took me at least an hour each way. One night, on the Schuylkill "slow-way" it took me 3.5 hours to get home. I'm glad I didn't have a sitter waiting.

In this instance, men are certainly not losers. At least, they are not losing the game They are playing. With few exceptions, corporations are still top heavy with men, and they like it that way. By making it difficult for women to both advance their careers and raise children, it assured that the top floor offices with the big windows will continue to be occupied by men. This too will gradually change. More than half of the law school graduates are now women, the same holds true, or is becoming true, of other professions. Soon there will be no choice but to fill those big offices based on merit not gender. The hope then will be that the female decision makers will not simply follow in their predecessors footsteps, but that they will make some of the rational changes that will benefit both families and business.

Well, that's a kind way of bashing men Carol...to suggest they are "winning the game" of income. Yet, it again is missing the point. Not ALL company's are top heavy with men, yet this dilemna still exists....there are MANY company's run by women from top to bottom that make the same rules. As well, even for those that are predominately run by men, these same "top heavy men" are required to share in the same responsibilities as their wives in this "new family unit" society has created. This is not a gender issue, it's societal. By constantly regarding it as a gender issue, will not bring a solution...it merely appears selfish, by women. There are PLENTY of men juggling the same responsibilities, and others....let's be fair.

Certainly fathers are impacted too. My husband also needs his company to be flexible when we have a nanny emergency and someone needs to cover things and we have to draw straws based on who has the most packed day at work. He is a wonderful father and absolutely does his part to raise our son so its important that both our companies be flexible. It that is a general parent issue, not just a mom issue.

However...I also get annoyed at the following... I might be lamenting that I need to leave early to take care of something with my son and the guys I work with comment and say "oh sure, like you're the only one with a kid". And they are joking, but its frustrating. They have kids, yes, but they also have wives who handle everything. Doctors appointments, bedtime routines, laundry and clothes shopping, managing the relationship with the caregiver - it may not always be true, but a lot of times, that's Mom. So when Mom is also working full time and the primary breadwinner, then it would be nice for some acknowledgement that things are different. And as much as I hate to admit it, we fall into typical gender rules as well. Meaning I'm also food shopping, cooking and generally keeping the household going. I don't care that I have to do it, but some acknowledgement that it's not the same for *a lot* of men would be nice. Bob, you may be a prince, and my husband is terrific too, but at the end of the day I would still argue that in *most* cases, it's Mom who has the lionshare of the work and thus, needs the most flexibility.

Yes well...this is great topic to cover Katherine. Yet, as a "girl", you don't pick up your children any differently than a man would. Or, changing a diaper for that matter...the responsibilities are the same, they're not gender specific any longer. It would be like me writing an article about how unfair it is for MEN to have to pay such high income taxes. For anyone who works and pays taxes (men or women), they would take that as "What makes you so special, we all pay the same!?". Employers don't treat men any differently on this issue. For those of us parents, we all operate under the same set of rules. It's not about women, it's about parents.

This is all so true. Unless someone complains loudly, people who are unaffected, don't seem to notice or care. Single mothers have the worst situation. I was a married working mother who had to work to pay the bills. I only had one child because I knew that I could not afford another. I too have had nightmares about trying to be in two places at one time. I can't even imagine the stress of having two or more children in the same circumstances. Of course that is a choice, but I think all women should have the opportunity to be a mother to at least one child. And they should have the opportunity to use their brains in the working world and have a career. Working mothers have lots of worries and I think the kids do suffer in the end. It is a social problem. And worse in America where we work more hours than anywhere in the world, for what?! We need to find the balance very soon, or we will have future generations who know nothing of family.