The Frazzled Working Mom
I liked this post from The Mama Bee, which references a post I wrote on the MomsRising blog
Mama Bee writes:
The frazzled supermom archetype is insidious because it suggests to women that they need to consider at least partially opting out of the workforce to maintain their sanity. Instead of advocating for corporate changes that better support working women and their families, mothers get the message that they can’t possibly manage work and home at the same time. That’s particularly worrying because the women most likely to leave their jobs are frequently the ones most qualified to reach executive levels where they could truly impact workplace family policies.
The fact is that many women — myself included — have a host of “home” jobs that we like doing. I enjoy taking care of Baby Bee in the evenings, putting him to bed and playing; I enjoy cooking dinner each night; and I enjoyed breastfeeding during that period of our lives. The responsibilities haven’t been entirely equally distributed between myself and Papa Bee, but that has been my choice. (For the record, Papa does do most of the cleaning, since I’m fairly incompetent in that area.)
Do I feel overwhelmed at times? Of course, but so does Papa Bee. Having a family really can be very stressful. But that would be the case whether I worked or didn’t — there are plenty of the stay-at-home mothers I know who are equally stressed out. So let’s stop letting the media tell us that we’re going to be frazzled until our kids go to college, and start finding real solutions in the workplace that make our lives better today.
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About Me
Morra Aarons-Mele utilizes social media strategies to help employers, employees and communities connect. She also consults with leading organizations on how women can use the internet for professional and personal development. In her spare time, Morra enjoys blogging about women and politics. Read her full bio >>
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