Can We Have It All?

There’s been a lot of talk in the media lately about women in the work place. Can we have it all? is the question being put forth once again with no clear or easy answer. Can we have it all? Can women have both a family and a successful and fulfilling career? Not according to Anne-Marie Slaughter we can’t.

I’m lucky enough to be able to work from home. I work for myself so I answer to only my clients. Working from home has also been in the news a lot lately. I suspect some people aren’t actually always working when they ‘work from home’. I suspect there are some people who might be playing Party Bingo or shopping for shoes. If I weren’t my own boss I might actually do the same thing. Unfortunately I have to pay the bills so for the most part I don’t goof around when working during the day.

I am able to set my schedule around my daughter’s school schedule. I have to do this because I am a single mom and there is no one else to do the picking up and dropping off without considerable planning, scheduling and possibly nagging. Because I was divorced when my daughter was so young, and because I hadn’t been working before the divorce, I had to find something that was flexible.

I’m lucky that I was able to create a career for myself. I tried working in the corporate world before becoming a stay at home working mom but I found they weren’t as flexible as they claimed to be.

Do I have it all? Hell no. I have little time for a relationship, I don’t make as much money as I would in a corporate job and I have no benefits. But, I can take as much vacation as I can afford, I never have to ask for time off and I don’t have to worry that my boss thinks I’m slacking when I need to leave early to take my kid to a doctor’s appointment.