Not Guilty: The Good News About Working Mothers - Hardcover

Holcomb, Betty

9780684822334: Not Guilty: The Good News About Working Mothers

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684822334 ISBN 13: 9780684822334

Publisher: Scribner, 1998

An accomplished journalist and editor at Working Mother magazine dispels the convention that women who stay at home are better mothers, drawing on decades of research to reassure women they can benefit their children by working. Reprint.

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Review:

"Men pride themselves on their ability to earn a good living in order to take care of their families. Why is it that women must be made to feel guilty about doing the same thing?" Author Betty Holcomb points to this quote from a working mother as the central premise for Not Guilty! The Good News About Working Mothers. Historically--and in a recent backlash as well--women have been criticized for working outside the home. In Not Guilty! Holcomb, a senior editor at Working Mother magazine, states definitively that mothers do not injure their children by working outside the home, and that, in fact, with the right support, children can actually benefit from having a working mother.

Holcomb lays bare the conservative myth that children are damaged by mothers who work, carefully and methodically dissecting biased research and media stories. She is also attuned to the fact that working outside the home is not always a choice in today's economic climate. "It is not some feminist plot or liberal ideology that inspires men and women to reinvent their family life. Rather it is the day-to-day realities of home life today, transformed by women's new earning power, that drive couples to alter the terms of marriage and parenthood."

In this comprehensive examination, Holcomb also discusses the dilemmas faced by women who have left the work force to raise their children, only to return later and find they are no longer able to garner their departing salaries. She also exposes the crisis and lack of support from the public-policy sector for child-care options and family leave. Placing these questions within a historical and cross-cultural context, Holcomb offers a clear, compelling look at the current devaluing of working mothers and makes a strong case for why mothers who work are actually doing a world of good. --Ericka Lutz

About the Author:

Betty Holcomb is senior articles editor of Working Mother magazine and was the recipient of the Exceptional Merit Media Award (EMMA) from the National Women's Political Caucus and Radcliffe College in 1994. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York, Good Housekeeping, and Glamour. A working mother, she lives in Montclair, New Jersey.

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