I gave up work when I was told that I couldn’t expect to maintain the status of my old job, and work part-time. I was mystified by the idea that, in capitalist society, where my time is a commodity that I sell, I wasn’t in control of how much of it was up for sale.

It turned out that the quality of my work wasn’t what they wanted - it was a fixed quantity, or nothing at all.

Anyway, absolutely it should be about balance, and personal choice, and world getting it’s miniscule comprehension around the fact that WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT. It’s insanity for women to spend one century fighting for employment, and the next fighting for the option to stay at home. Is it asking too much for me to make my own choices?

I didn’t read the whole of all the articles, I can’t stand people who are superior to others - I am as good as anyone and my worth is not to do with my career, how much I can earn or how many bottoms I wipe, but because I am a human being. I don’t think I am being held back by being female. I think society is being held back from treating all members of society fairly and progressing to something better because of an obsession with money.

Perhaps men don’t choose to stay home and bring up kids because to begin with they don’t birth them and breastfeed them, making mum more likely to be the early care giver, but basically because society is telling all of us we have to be good little workers and put our children in institutions from birth so we can get on up the corporate ladder. If childcare was highly respected and men were brought up to have dolls and look after children, perhaps more of them would be doing it.

What really irritates me is that she sets such store by the choices made by a few ‘elite’ women. Their choices are pretty much irrelevant to me.

I have identified as a feminist since my teens and spent a lot of time reading theorists who wrote about the family, the position of ‘housewives’ in society, etc. etc. I think there ARE interesting things to be said about what is happening in the world of work/family - just not quite what Linda Hirshman said! Of course she got slammed by the forces of US conservatism for what she said - no surprise there. Pity she also alienated so many people who could, perhaps, have educated her a bit about why women make the choices they do.

Interesting article on work/life balance: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/104/vandebroek.html

Just for a laugh (given your current work culture):
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/06/writestuff.html

While I’m about it, another bit of attitude adjustment that has to happen re. children is in churches. Adults need to stop thinking of children as the church of tomorrow and realise that they’re the church of today i.e. not to be packed off into Sunday School and patted on the head occasionally.