Today I heard the most charming story. Someone’s boss read my article in Daily Life, printed it out, put a copy on everybody’s desk, and then sent a memo around telling them that from now on they were to leave work by 5.30pm.
The boss is male. The company is a large business in the private sector.
That is the perfect result! Well done you (& him!)
Just when you think you’ll never be heard above all the noise…I find this very heartening.
Wonderful!
What a wonderful form of validation for a completely logical and human argument…some of my friends doing the balancing act of life said the article brought tears to their eyes. Well done!
That is indeed so heartwarming. Congrats on the beautifully written article.
Love, love, love. I don’t plan on having children, but my life is still my own. I hope that when I get to the workplace I’ll have the courage to not work overtime unless it’s paid.
I think it is a very good piece, getting at all the most important aspects of this issue, and treating them in an appropriately subtle way. I particularly liked your critical look at the discourse of “choices.” It made me think of writings by Jennifer Nedelsky (I live in Canada and study legal theory, so this is how I come to these issues….) – especially her argument that a much broader range of work “choices” must be made socially possible (rather than possible only with enormous class privilege or on the basis of women’s enormous sacrifices). Thanks for your excellent blog.
Patricia
If you get permission to post the name of the company, I will buy stocks.
Good suggestion. I will see if I can get permission.
Nice! I wish that were more common.
That is so cool!!
*applause!* Good on the both of you.
That is amazing! I hope they will stick with it.
That’s got to be at least a tablespoon bluemilk! I hadn’t thought of sending your article to my boss, but I think I might. Not least because he needs to follow your advice as well.
Great article..as a woman that also works in a man’s world and clothes (law enforcement) this was my favorite sentence: “But we will know the revolution has truly begun when men in men’s clothing make these same confessions, and not for a pat on the back, but because they want to acknowledge that to shut off half of their lives is to die in slow, painful increments.”
As a mom of 2 teenage girls, the balancing act is very hard, I continue to work nights (12 hr shifts)to be home for them in the mornings and after school, and am often questioned why I do it…for my kids and for me.
Well done! That’s fantastic!
Love so many points you made in that article, and that someone put this on everyone’s desk!
[…] And check her eponymous blog for a nice follow-up. […]
Heh. One of the better jobs I’ve had was under a manager like that. We worked a 37.5 hour week and had to justify working longer. Given my tendency to get involved in things and forget the time, that usually mean I finished by lunch-time on Friday. Which I really liked. That was a manager that “got it”.
In similar news, there’s another Age article on the move away from open-plan offices. Which can’t come fast enough for me. I do “focus” work, which is hard when there are 10-15 people within earshot, some of whose jobs involve much discussion and phone chat. Fortunately my employer measures “butt in seat time” rather than actual productivity.
fantastic!
That is awesome! And it was a great article.