Modern mom

by Regan McMahon (Observations from the On- and Off-Ramps at Mommy Tracked)

I knew I’d been out of work too long when friends at social gatherings stopped saying, “How’s the job hunting going?” and started asking. “What’s your backup plan?”

I didn’t intend to need a backup plan. When I took a buyout from the struggling newspaper where I’d been an editor, feature writer and book critic for many years, my plan was to get a job as an editor or writer. There wasn’t really a backup plan.

Read More »

by Leslie Morgan Steiner (Mommy Track'd - Two Cents on Working Motherhood)

Dear Maureen Dowd:

Thank you so for your recent column, Blue is the New Black. Thanks for enlightening me about how women today are SO unhappy because of all the choices heaped upon us since the feminist revolution began in 1972. I always knew my troubles were all Gloria Steinem’s fault.

Thanks for explaining that:

• Unlike today, before the 1970s, women in America felt greater well-being than men (I’d like to insert a smiley face here, please)
• That having stepped into male-dominated realms (you don’t say which ones, but I assume you mean paid work like journalism, politics, medicine, academia, professional sports, television and entertainment, and perhaps the gym) we women have put more demands upon our wittle selves

Read More »

by Regan McMahon (Observations from the On- and Off-Ramps at Mommy Track'd)

Back when I had a full-time job, I remember watching people on the TV news taking about how long they’d been out of work. Top Silicon Valley executives, experienced engineers, municipal water district employees, teachers and bricklayers would preface their remarks with “I’ve been out of work six months” or “It’s been 18 months” or “I haven’t been able to find anything in almost a year.” I’d hear that and think they mustn’t be trying very hard.

Read More »