Balancing A Family And A Professional Career

Being a woman is difficult by now we all know that, however being “the woman behind the man” could be very challenging and demanding. “Women’s unpaid work benefits their husbands’ careers. The terms status-enhancing work and two-person career describe situations in which wives serve as unofficial contributors to their husbands work” (Crawford, 2011, p.301). This article is very interesting because it talks about “real life” situations women go through. Having a family and a professional career can be very overwhelming for woman because of the fact that our children need us. In this article we see the tough years Mrs. Slaughter had with her professional career and her life as a wife and a mother to her adolescent’s boys. She talks about very …show more content…
Balancing work, family and school in many cases is very difficult because there is so much to do and so little time. According to our textbook “Women are much more likely than men to adjust their jobs around their family responsibilities” (Crawford, 2011, p.326). Both women and men make trade-offs to keep up with the balancing acts however this is actually very complex but just like everything else in life there are also benefits associated with multiple roles. “Indeed, study after shows that involvement as a spouse, parent and worker is beneficial for both women and men. The value of the balancing act is reflected in better mental health, physical health, and relationship quality as well as more satisfaction at work” (Crawford, 2011, p.327). I don’t believe this research is applicable to the article because Mrs. Slaughter was very stressed and drowning in work. Besides she didn’t have much time for her family and the fact that her boys needed her in their adolescent years was affecting her because she knew she had to be there for them. “I told her how difficult I was finding it to be away from my son when he clearly needed me” (Slaughter,