MORE on what women/I want from work

Picked up this month's MORE magazine at the grocery store earlier in the week.  Perused the front cover and despite efforts to resist my interest in this magazine for "women of style & substance" since we all know this just means "old", I found myself wanting to read an article advertised on the front cover.  The title?  "How to have a life and a job in a stink bomb economy."  Very high brow reading.  But I opened up to the table of contents, and was promised on page 114, "10 Great Careers for Women Who Want a Life."  So, 39 & counting, career relaunch seeking 'ole me, obviously handed over $4.00 to learn more.

Sat on the sofa with my glass of wine and read the article last night.  Well, Go MORE magazine.  So they partnered with the polling company/WomanTrend to survey women nationwide about their attitudes towards their jobs, and revealed what many of my friends and I already know - - that women are sacrificing ambition in a search for balance.

The article emphasizes that women aren't slowing down because they're not getting enough help at home; only 15% of the women interviewed for the piece said that household or child care duties have held them back.  The women interviewed want to work (only 11% said they wanted to put in fewer hours); they just don't want to advance.  73% said they wouldn't apply for the their boss's job.  According to Meryle Mahrer Kaplan, the president of Catalyst, a not-for-profit organization concerned with women and business, wanting a more flexible career is not about being lazy, uncommitted or unwilling to work.  "Instead, the search for a flexible career is about crafting a way of life that doesn't require one partner to stay home while the other works 80 hours a week outside the house. "

The Families and Work Institute agrees that declining ambition is a trend.  According to president Ellen Galinsky, "With the recession, the threat of terrorist attacks, the natural disasters we've been living through - all of this makes us ask - What's important to us?"  Galinsky also says, "While its true that jobs have never been tailored to meet women's needs, it's also true that they can be - through increased career flexibility."  Women take work seriously - and want to be taken seriously at work.  92% of the women interviewed said that career flexibility is the key part to finding the right job.

And,  among the top 10 careers with built in future growth and decent pay that allow for just that flexibility - - - well, according to MORE - Public Relations Specialist.

Go me.

Quick update - its been a good "work week" for me.  Remember that organization I interviewed with when we first got to Denver?  The one with the full-time "Director of Communications and Marketing"position?  Well, they called and want me to do some contract work for them.  And I am looking forward to a meeting next Friday with the president of a prominent public relations firm in town.  And I've been giving a lot more thought to that new and "oh so right" project I mentioned in a post from a week or so ago.

More (pun intended) later.  Off to Denver Jewish Day School to for PTO volunteer duties.

Shabbat Shalom,

E