You are not going to like this one.
Thirty years ago you were leading this campaign for women’s rights, equality and professional success. Women were leaping from their homes, putting on their suits and hose and dashing to make it big in the business world. They were eschewing traditional lifestyles in exchange for a chance to make it big out “there”.
Flash forward to 2006. More and more of my friends, coworkers and compadres are all yearning for a way to go home. To build a home, to create meals for their families, to raise the children while their husbands work. Many women in the 27-36-age bracket share this same mentality. We feel our place is indeed in the home. That’s where we crave to be. I believe that many of us feel trapped- we have gotten the appropriate education, are sailing the company ladder, but for a lot of us, that is not our brass circle that we chase after. I have friends married and single alike that all want the same thing- we all want to go home, and frankly, stay there. We feel certain compunction to take on more of the traditional gender roles, but at the same time feel that we are letting someone down by walking away from this business life that we have created. How do we find a balance?
Current technology offers us so many more options. We can telecommute, we can run successful businesses out of our homes, and we can make a life for ourselves without ever going into the office. Many mothers now are choosing to work from home rather than heading back to the office after maternity leave. This allows them the flexibility of a paycheck while being able to spend time with their children during their formative years.
Other mothers are going back to the office, finding that within 3 months that they would rather be at home. Historically, women were looked at as a professional detriment once they got pregnant- now; less people blink when a woman chooses to stay home.
In an informal survey of 10 women, 8 out of 10 women would rather be a homemaker than a professional. All ten women are college educated. 6 of the 10 women are married, 4 of the 10 are single with a history of long-term relationships under their belts. The two women choosing to stay in the workplace long term are both college educated, single and have highly successful sales jobs. Both of these women that would rather work than “go home” are both over 36 years old and never been married. Out of the eight that would rather stay home, one is a new mom, and is choosing to work from home, another is newly pregnant, and has no intention of going back to work. Another woman from this survey is 32, married with one child and is currently a manager for a technology company. Her statement concerning this topic is strong- “When I look back at my life and review my accomplishments, I can tell you right now the work that I did for Company X will not be on top of my list.”
Are we all naive enough to think that it will be easier to be a stay at home? I don’t think so- I know that our “to-do” lists will be just as long as they are on our Outlook Calendars at the office. Actually, because of technology, we can carry our to-do lists on a Palm Pilot, our phone, or check them on the fly with wireless Internet connections. I am pretty that we will be “in the weeds” most days. I know that we won’t be getting any more “atta-boys” from our kids than we do from our bosses.
There is a certain predicament that we have put ourselves in across the board- It's like we are backed into a corner- the economy is such that rarely can a family afford to live on one salary- which forces more and more people to do the double income lifestyle. We cant turn back the hands of time, but we do need to adapt to a different lifestyle. Less luxury purchases, more saving.
With the freedoms that we fought so hard for, we got out of the house.
Now these very same freedoms have locked us from going back in.
I might as well be using two tin cans and some string. Or that phone on the left. My cell phone sucks. Sucks the big monkey. My friends have now started to say I sound like Satan when they call me. Lovely. Nothing like being compared to Lucifer to start a phone call off on the right foot.
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