A book I haven't read yet: "The Feminine Mistake"

The author of "The Feminine Mistake" is coming as a guest speaker to work tomorrow. I'm interested to hear what she has to say - in spite of friends who juggle work/family daily, I can't yet wrap my own head around how, exactly, anyone can ever achieve any sort of reasonable balance (my parents' truly excellent solution - both teachers with summer vacations - unfortunately isn't available to most of the population).

Luckily I'm not currently subject to any urge for children, but I can imagine the anguish I'd feel if I were. Would I be willing to leave work for more than, say, three months? I doubt it. I get way too big a kick out of the adrenaline rush that comes with competition: for good projects, for promotion, for quarterly performance metrics, to get resources to get something done. I angle & fight for the respect of my teammates and I gloat like a proud mother (!) when someone I'm mentoring launches something exciting. I also really, really, really enjoy the conversation of adults. If I left all this behind, would I resent my kids for dragging me from it? Maybe. And don't tell me that the mothering instinct would kick in and save me from that - I've heard too many times that my biological clock would start ticking by the time I turned 28 to believe that feminine biology is destiny.

So where does that leave me? Wishing I knew of a clear way to fight for more work/life balance for all members of society, not just women, that's where. As long as the ability to juggle kids and a job is seen as a women's issue, we're all screwed, women and men together. I know way too many overworked male lawyers who are frantically jealous of the "mommy track" to believe anything different.