Back when Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In was the rallying cry for working women, I was in tech as a Sr. Product Manager, balancing a demanding career with life as a new mom. My routine included a 1.5-hour commute each way, four days a week, and weekly day trips to Los Angeles. Like Dr. Corinne Low, I found myself pumping in airport restrooms. On longer work trips, I packed breast milk in dry ice and shipped it home overnight—on my own dime.
The pressure to “lean in” felt relentless, but the truth was that I often wanted to “lay down” (hat tip to Ali Wong). With a career that demanded everything and a baby who needed everything, the math simply didn’t add up.
Today, my infant is nearly an adult, but the equation hasn’t changed for working moms. That’s why Dr. Low’s perspective resonates so deeply with me. As an economist and as a mother, she lays bare what I’ve long felt: “having it all” is a myth, and the numbers prove it.
Her call to radically prioritize, redefine success, and honor our own “utility function” isn’t just refreshing—it’s liberating.
Thank you so much!!! I hope my book is an antidote to the BS that insists women use our lives as battering rams against structural problems. We can acknowledge the lack of fairness, acknowledge how far short things fall from equality, and still decide to figure out how to create a HAPPY life for ourselves in the meantime.
LOVED this post. Thank you for putting together and sharing.
Back when Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In was the rallying cry for working women, I was in tech as a Sr. Product Manager, balancing a demanding career with life as a new mom. My routine included a 1.5-hour commute each way, four days a week, and weekly day trips to Los Angeles. Like Dr. Corinne Low, I found myself pumping in airport restrooms. On longer work trips, I packed breast milk in dry ice and shipped it home overnight—on my own dime.
The pressure to “lean in” felt relentless, but the truth was that I often wanted to “lay down” (hat tip to Ali Wong). With a career that demanded everything and a baby who needed everything, the math simply didn’t add up.
Today, my infant is nearly an adult, but the equation hasn’t changed for working moms. That’s why Dr. Low’s perspective resonates so deeply with me. As an economist and as a mother, she lays bare what I’ve long felt: “having it all” is a myth, and the numbers prove it.
Her call to radically prioritize, redefine success, and honor our own “utility function” isn’t just refreshing—it’s liberating.
Thank you so much!!! I hope my book is an antidote to the BS that insists women use our lives as battering rams against structural problems. We can acknowledge the lack of fairness, acknowledge how far short things fall from equality, and still decide to figure out how to create a HAPPY life for ourselves in the meantime.
https://therewrittenpath.substack.com/p/the-sherpa?r=61kohn