Discussion redux: "The Feminine Mistake"

I did, in fact, go to hear this author speak - and came away with a few interesting points, none of them counter-intuitive and many of them encouraging. My favorites are:

• Intensive child-rearing doesn't last long. At five years old, kids go to kindergarten. When planning for the initial few years when children demand the most time, it's also important to plan for the years that come next.
• There's a positive correlation between women's happiness and working.
  
• There's a positive correlation between women's working and children's learning to be self-sufficient (walking sooner, tying their own shoes, making friends more easily).
• At higher income levels, not working is often a status symbol for a woman (and her husband).
  
• The author of the book isn't aware of any research on what happens to a man's career when he leaves the workforce to care for children for several years.
  
• The female taboo on publicly striving for, rejoicing in, publicizing, gloating about, and even taking credit for work success is alive and well. I've seen it clearly myself since I started mentoring: almost every woman I mentor has asked for advice on how to get recognition & credit for her work - and most these same women feel frustrated that they don't already know how to do this. Not one guy has brought this up. It might be time for me to stop feeling mildly embarrassed about my shameless self-promotion - and start giving my mentees a to-do list.
  

Isn't that interesting? We've come so far, and yet....