Michelle Obama and the Mommy Wars - Building Gender Balanced Business

Women around the world — including Cherie Blair and Carla Bruni Sarkozy — are weighing in on the renewed argument over whether a woman should give up her career for her husband and family. The catalyst this time? Michelle Obama, hospital executive turned self-declared “mom-in-chief” as her husband prepares to be president. Snippets from the front:

• Cherie Blair warned, ““It is something of an irony that in these days of pushing for equality, those of us married to our political leaders have to put their own ambitions on hold while their spouses are in office.”

• Leslie Morgan Steiner, editor of the anthology of essays titled “Mommy Wars,” argued that Michelle Obama had been “put in a box” and was celebrated in the media only after she decided “to put her family first.”

• Karen O’Connor, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University: “It’s not like the normal woman who gives up her career to follow her husband someplace. In this situation, every year in for Michelle Obama is another $100,000. This is almost an investment.”

• Obama’s own view of her decision: “I miss my work, I enjoyed what I was doing. But this is really pretty significant. My view of career is that I can always have whatever career I want. That’s why I don’t question that I can go back to that job or go back to something else interesting.”

The article in the International Herald Tribune