Sexism and the Working Mother: You've come a long way, Baby?

"There's a lot more to being a woman than being a mother, but there's a hell of lot more to being a mother than most people suspect." Roseanne Barr.

From Rosie the Riveter, forced out of the workplace when World War II ended, to the rigidly constrained housewives of the fifties, the bra burning sixties and the consciousness-raising seventies, here we are, poised to begin the second decade of the 21st century. Women no longer have to choose between homemaking and working - most must do both!

Wake up, get yourself ready for work and the children ready for day care or school; out of the house by 7:15 a.m.; drop off the kids; hustle to work. Work hard. At 5 - 5:30 p.m., race out of the office to pick up the kids; home about 6:30 p.m. if you're lucky. Make supper or, if you're running late as usual, grab takeout on the way home, feed the family and clean up. Try to spend at least an hour of quality time with the kids, check their homework and school reports, get them ready for bed. 9 p.m. choices - catch up on a few of those never-ending chores, an hour of relaxation or what your body is craving - SLEEP, so you can start the whole process over again the next day. Note: This is the easy schedule. If you work in the health care, emergency services or hospitality industries, your shifts will never match the day care center's and you will need to find a reliable babysitter, pull alternate shifts with your husband, or have a very helpful extended family (do they still exist?).

If you have to leave work for a child care issue - sickness, behavior, snowstorm - your employer will likely list every instance that year when you exercised this "privilege." You are constantly torn in different directions - at work worrying about the things you should be doing for your family; at home - thinking about all the things you need to get done at work. Saturdays are spent shopping, banking, paying bills, transporting kids to Karate, dance, soccer. Sundays are spent trying to squeeze church and family activities in between all those chores you never manage to get done during the week. Monday it all starts over again.

Most women have little job security and make considerably less than their male counterparts. Married moms occasionally have husbands who pull some of the weight. Many don't. Single moms carry a burden that would make Atlas Shrug (apologies to Ayn Rand).

Oh yeah, you've come a long way, Baby.

Coming as soon as I can boil it down to manageable proportions - Sexism in the Media.