To the Editor:
While “What Women Really Want: Work Boundaries,” by Corinne Low (Opinion guest essay, Nov. 2), calls attention to the critical issue of mothers dropping out of the work force at higher rates than we’ve seen in 40 years, it fails to capture two important nuances: Mothers are not a monolith, and neither are employers.
What works for one industry won’t work for another; what works for one mother might be the opposite of what another one needs.
Our society’s fatal flaw — rushing to find universal solutions — causes us to miss the simplest one of all: Employers should ask their employees what they need, listen to what they have to say and do the work to find a solution that works for both parties. Because what’s good for mothers is good for business. Simple as that.
Miriam Rubin
Boston
The writer is a co-founder and the chief executive of the consulting group Listen to Your Mothers.
To the Editor:
Corinne Low’s essay captures what many working parents, especially mothers, have felt for years — the need for clear boundaries between work and life. But the solution isn’t only rigid scheduling; it’s also flexibility with structure.
Being able to work remotely or hybrid within set hours or meet clients and associates in nearby public spaces like libraries or coffee shops helps balance professional, family and health responsibilities. Having “blackout” periods when work communication stops preserves boundaries without sacrificing productivity.
Many parents, for example, work best early in the morning or later in the evening. I often complete paperwork between 5 and 7 a.m. before the household wakes up. Allowing employees to fulfill their eight-hour day anytime between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. would make full-time work more manageable for anyone juggling caregiving and professional duties.
Boundaries and autonomy don’t just help mothers — they help everyone trying to manage the demands of both work and life. What most of us want isn’t fewer hours — it’s smarter, more humane work.
Shana Dubroy
Sudbury, Ontario
To the Editor:
The American belief that longer working hours equates to higher productivity is a myth. Just look at the Nordic region, where I’ve lived since 2012. Here, people recognize that life outside of work is as important, and in fact more important, than work itself.
Both employees and employers regularly leave work on time to pick up children from (government-subsidized) nurseries, attend their children’s soccer games or meet friends for a drink. Weekends are for family and social life, not for being called in for a last-minute obligation in the office. Companies respect and support this priority.
At the same time, production and efficiency are high here, with successful economies that offer their citizens a good life-work balance. The United States doesn’t just need a structural change when it comes to boundaries around work — it needs a change in mind-set.
I see this with Americans who come to work here temporarily. At first they are suspicious and compare how much they work versus local people. By the time they go back home they consistently mention the quality of life and the freedom they had to live their lives outside the office as one of the main factors they will miss.
Molly McPharlin
Oslo
To the Editor:
There are many schools of feminism, but most embrace the belief that “real work” takes place in the realm formerly occupied only by men — the workplace — and domestic labor has no real value.
To achieve parity, we are encouraged to “lean in” throughout our reproductive years and to put caregiving on the proverbial back burner. The result is choosing between impoverishing ourselves by paying an exorbitant proportion of our income to child care and house care and facing burnout or dropping out of our careers while we are mothers of young children.
Yes, we need work boundaries, but we also need a six-hour workday that allows more time to do all the many jobs that stay-at-home moms have traditionally done. We also need to stop penalizing women who choose to hit the pause button while their children are young by labeling them trad wives or unserious about their careers.
We need time out during the few years needed to raise extremely young children out of the nearly five decades the average worker spends in the workplace.
Denise Cummins
Boulder, Colo.
The writer is a lecturer in psychology and neuroscience at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
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