Forty years ago, when women of the baby boom generation broke through many barriers to enter elite colleges that had previously excluded them, enter new fields of study and research, and join the academic workforce in unprecedented numbers, not many of us thought about the challenges we would confront in making it all come together. We charged into our complicated professional and personal lives, convinced that we could succeed at both raising families and having dynamic careers by sheer force of will. In fact, for countless women of many generations since the 1960s, it has been a great life. We have been supported by both cooperative partners and friends and worked in enlightened institutions. But for others, it has not been good at all.
Forty years ago, when women of the baby boom generation broke through many barriers to enter elite colleges that had previously excluded them, enter new fields of study and research, and join the academic workforce in unprecedented numbers, not many of us thought about the challenges we would confront in making it all come together. We charged into our complicated professional and personal lives, convinced that we could succeed at both raising families and having dynamic careers by sheer force of will. In fact, for countless women of many generations since the 1960s, it has been a great life. We have been supported by both cooperative partners and friends and worked in enlightened institutions. But for others, it has not been good at all.
