It's Not Glass the Ceiling, It's the Sticky Floor

by Karen Engberg

Putting family first in an ambitious, career-minded society can be a very difficult, and even passe, decision. Young women contemplating marriage, motherhood, and work need a helpful guide to understanding and meeting the challenges of work and family. Even those who have sacrificed career dreams in the face of motherhood need to be reassured.It's Not the Glass Ceiling, It's the Sticky Floor is Karen Engberg's urgent call for women to negotiate equality in the home and for men to understand that motherhood and "housework" are just as important as breadwinning. "The ability to spot-treat stains, remember who doesn't like brownies with nuts, memorize the baby-sitter's number, and remember that toilet paper is needed, even when it's not on the grocery list, involves talents residing in the twilight zone of human accomplishments. These skills do nothing for a resume but are essential to civilized survival."

In pithy and hard-hitting chapters, using hilarious and hair-raising personal experiences, Engberg challenges the studies and assertions of "experts" who fail to address family issues in realistic, or realizable, terms. She offers fresh points-of-view and advice for women on youthful decision-making, motherhood, what to expect from husbands and fathers, domestic duties, parenting, handling teenagers, finance, and much more. Emphasizing a feminine individualism and forecasting the highs and lows of family/work life, Engberg sets a blueprint for a new kind of duty structure.

203 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview (although outdated) about working women who also care about motherhood and families. I'll spoil the secret - there is no blueprint, just general guidelines to help you realize that it's all about cobbling it together.