I'm horrified by the article's accusatory tone and implicitly reactionary anti-woman message. I'm also horrified because the authors repeatedly quote me in such a way as to make it seem as if I actually agreed with them. The parents I interviewed were worried and confused about the balance between work and home. Without anyone quite noticing, over the past 50 years the social world of work has gotten bigger, and the social world at home smaller. I've written a book that raises questions about the changes in these two worlds, the quandary it puts people in, and how we might move toward the work-family balance that in our heart of hearts almost all of us want.
Most parents work because they have to.
With welfare reform and downsizing that can suddenly throw one parent out of a job, this is true more than ever. Financial need is one reason women are in the workplace to stay, and one of many reasons that's where we should be. We need to hold a national conversation about what companies, the government, and parents can do to improve work-family balance. This conversation needs to be open, exploratory, and most of all, respectful. Inflammatory accusations about lying simply blame the victim.