Playing the Clock Game
My grandmother, in an inverse situation from many women today who have no choice but to work, had little choice but to stay at home and raise her children. Her daughters, flush with the feminist revolution, became doctors, marched pretty and proud into boys-club medical schools, and went on to have thriving careers, and children. Ran themselves down, on call at nights, seeing patients all day, juggling schedules, trying to do it all. Some women of my generation are trying to play the clock game. Have a career first, take a break in their mid- 30s to start a family (and write a novel), and jump back on the wagon when the kids are in school. Good luck. Or they passionately embrace the one or the other – mother or professional – standing stoically by their decision, and peeking over their shoulders only in the dark, when no one is looking. Or, like me, they play the part-time game, part-time mom, part-time professional, a little of this, a little of that, and not too much of anything.
Maya Bernstein, on the Lilith blog