Getting to 50/50: How Working Couples Can Have It All by Sharing It All

by Joanna Strober and Sharon Meers

Book Overview

Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober are professionals, wives, and mothers with five young children between them. They understand the challenges and rewards of two-career households. They also know that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553806556
• ISBN13: 9780553806557
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Excellent; Wish It Had Been Around When I Was Younger

This is a very well done book. I am a 40-something female graduate of Yale Law School and former partner in a large law firm. I have not married or had children in part because of confusion and fear about how to do it in a way that did not leave me (a) not working and thus dependent and probably forced into deference or passivity and thus unable to mother effectively and suffering the other costs of being 100% financially bound to a marriage, including impoverished old age, tolerating affairs, etc., or (b) working and in conflict with a man's "ego" and worried over whether children were getting what they needed. Had this book been around or had these issues even been discussed openly during my young adulthood, I could possibly have had a much more fulfilling life and had a family. The book is very thorough and deals well with many of the psychological, sociological and economic issues presented in designing and living a marriage and parenthood and makes an excellent case for the two-career marriage being workable and preferable. It also provides a number of helpful suggestions. My only suggestion is that the book would have benefited from a closer look at what people call the "negative evidence" for the two-career marriage, so that this evidence can be examined through this newer, fairer, more productive, and more-effective-for-children concept of marriage. My understanding is that there are some children who grew up with working moms who now express unhappiness about that. (As of course, there are legions of children whose fathers have neglected them personally and now express unhappiness about that.) I don't know what was going on in those people's families (and in particular, why the mother is receiving all the blame and not the father), but it would be helpful to see the studies of those children addressed. My gut tells me this is a hangover from patriarchy in which economic dependence on men tended to cause people to feel free to blame women and place expectations on them to be available to meet others' needs and to feel fear in holding men accountable, and that this distorted peoples' psychology. It may also reflect that our institutions and concepts of workload have not kept up with the changing family structure, and men and women are still working very hard and long hours even when they are in two-earner families and would probably sacrifice some income for more parenting time. I hope we are headed into an era where 30 and 35 hour workweeks (for lower pay, of course) are more readily obtainable, and even become the norm, for working parents (either male or female).

Gettng to 50/50 is Profoundly Useful

I have been a member of a two-career couple since 1977. I am often asked by entrepreneurial students, alumni, and consulting clients how to juggle two careers plus a marriage, raising children and caring for aging parents. I have read lots of books and articles about two career marriages over the years and have been unimpressed with most of them. When I read "Getting to 50/50" I was blown away by how insightfully it captured the challenges facing both men and women in two career marriages, and gave pragmatic ideas on how to overcome those challenges. Students who have read the book (and shared it with their significant others) have had a unanimous response--everyone thought the book was profoundly useful.

A Real Achievement!

"Getting to 50/50" is a remarkably insightful and readable book about the challenges faced by modern American marriages and families. The authors have made a real contribution to the lives of millions of us who've tried to figure out ways to balance work and career in this era of gender equality.

No more guilt

This is a really well written book that pulls together a lot of sociological research from trusted sources. Its thesis is an exciting : kids whose mothers work do just as well in school and life as those who stay at home, and kids whose fathers are integrally involved in their lives do much better than those who aren't. Finally, an antidote to working mother guilt. In addition, there's lots of good strategies for negotiating balance between parents and at work. I recommend it to anyone who wants both a productive work life and nuturing home life.

Invaluable advice for the working mother

As a psychologist and a mother, I'd highly recommend this book to families with working parents. It offers insightful, practical advice on how to raise kids while you are in the workforce. It is extremely helpful for mothers who are thinking about going back to work after having a baby. -Rebecca Klein, PsyD