Tag Archives: women’s transition issues

The Baseline: An elusive tool

Posted on September 22, 2011 | 2 comments

Last Sunday my family and I participated in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk. For those who aren’t Bostonians, the Jimmy Fund is the fund-raising arm of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute dedicated to supporting research on childhood cancers.  My daughter and I were walking a pace or two behind our team.  We happened to be interspersed with a group called Jessica’s Twinkling Stars.  There were maybe 30 of them including 8 or 10 little girls about my daughter’s age.  Each of the girls had a light purple crocheted hat; some hats were adorned with white flowers.   My eight year old daughter was captivated by the hats. Continue reading →

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Gender Roles: A Child’s Perspective

Posted on September 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

“Does someone pay you?” quipped my daughter this morning as I tried to explain my current self-employed status.  She and my son have been on the “does Mom work?” line of questioning over the past week.  It is clear to me that they are struggling in their minds to understand my role, or said better, my changed role. Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review Finale: Learnings?

Posted on September 8, 2011 | 2 comments

An incident struck me yesterday morning.  I was walking with two neighbors at the crack of dawn — as I do regularly.  We were discussing an issue that hit a chord with one of my compatriots.  She physically changed as the conversation ensued.  Her body tensed and she began to shake ever so slightly.  Needless to say she was very keyed up.    She was struggling with anyone – it didn’t matter whom – who couldn’t see this topic the way she did.   From my view she seemed absolutely CLOSED to anything anyone else had to say.

It was a powerful juxtaposition to my summer  – a summer that opened me up to scores of new thinking about women’s transition issues.  Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #12: Women in Career & Life Transitions

Posted on August 25, 2011 | 8 comments

Do you remember the sock puppet commercial from the early 2000’s?   I think it was for pets.com or some other internet start-up.   A sock puppet with scraggly hair and button eyes would respond with the phrase, “the horror,” to many missives tossed at it.   It was silly and cavalier and – most of the time – just perfect.

The sock puppet’s “horror” voice was in my ear in  Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review # 11: It Takes a Village

Posted on August 19, 2011 | 1 comment

A rare evening of downtime last week inspired this week’s book choice.   I hardly ever put on the tv but in doing so I happened upon the 2009 documentary “The Last Train Home” directed by Lixin Fan.  This documentary follows  a Chinese couple from Sichuan province as they travel almost 1,000 miles home to their native village for the 4 day New Year’s celebration; a trek made by almost 130 million migrant Chinese workers.   The couple have made the journey for more than a decade to see their two children who are in the care of an aging grandmother.   Aside from letters this will be their only contact with the children for the year.

At one point the mother’s total anguish is overwhelming Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #10: The Price of Motherhood

Posted on August 11, 2011 | 2 comments

What a week!  It started with a minor hand injury that has left me with a few splinted fingers.   At the funeral of a dear family friend – also this week — I had to duck a few crushing hand shakes given that the blow was to my right hand.   My visiting mother-in-law queried me about how we plan to raise our children given that my husband and I hail from different faiths.  Caught a bee sting today while watching our two little stars at a ‘mock’ swim meet.  Did I mention that this was a family vacation week?

Amidst this swirl I read, Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #9: Working Identity

Posted on August 4, 2011 | 19 comments

Driving yesterday I heard an NPR story on WCAI, the Cape & The Islands (CAI) radio.  They broadcast a show entitled “The Moth”  which features audio storybooks of everyday Americans.  Their first story really gripped me:  an  autobiography by Aimee Mullins, a young women who lost both of her legs at birth and has used prosthetic limbs ever since.

Ms. Mullins told a truly amazing story about her life and her various opportunities to touch the lives of others.   One was a little girl who also had an artificial limb.  At the time Aimee first met her she had been struggling.  Kind of ‘just’ getting along –  setting no great expectations for herself while locked inside the world’s limited view of her capabilities.  Aimee inspired her to re-frame her expectations for herself and for those around her.

At a chance meeting a year or two later Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #8: Necessary Dreams

Posted on July 28, 2011 | 13 comments

A dear friend from business school stopped by to see me one day at the office.  I knew something was up because she was in town from Colorado and REALLY wanted to get together.  It was one of those weeks where I had kid’s events, work commitments, or other stuff every night.   So, the only time we could pull off was lunch in my not-so-lovely office cafeteria.

Looking back – I am so happy that she stopped by.  At lunch she shared with me an experience that had deeply affected her.  Just days before she had attended a HBS event, a healthcare symposium, during which students and alumni get together to discuss emerging trends and career issues.   At the event’s luncheon she sat  with two soon-to-be graduating students who happened to be incredibly gifted ladies.  Prior to attending HBS one had been an industrial engineer, the other a NASA scientist.   Despite these credentials their conversation with my friend was astonishing. Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #7: Steering by Starlight

Posted on July 21, 2011 | 4 comments

I asked my eight year old for the name of the diagram that has two overlapping circles.  She was hanging on some climbing structure in flip-flops and a bathing suit.  I should have been alarmed.   Instead I was trying to think  of an interesting angle to use to tell you about this week’s book while my two children enjoyed a few moments of their own.

She quickly chirped “Venn diagram” while still scaling the loosely joined swinging steps.  My read this week was really a Venn-test.  Continue reading →

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Summer Book Review #6: Off-Ramps and On-Ramps

Posted on July 14, 2011 | 14 comments

In April I joined a dozen women from my Harvard Business School class for dinner at a Mexican food restaurant.  Given that we graduated twenty years ago, we spent the 1st hour of dinner re-acquainting ourselves with one another.  We quickly fell into formal – or not so formal – introductions.    I  was so surprised by how few of my peers were working in a full-time traditional career – 2 out of 12.    A few more had worked a more traditional career path prior to having children but many had never worked a full-time career due to marriage, children, divorce, requirements of a spouse’s job, parental care, etc., etc.  Most chose part-time work at some point. Only three of us, including yours truly, worked full-time after having children.

One woman described her vocational interests as “design & architecture.”  It sounded exciting and creative but I remember being profoundly sad Continue reading →

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