Book Review: Womenomics

Part of exclusively pumping is finding things to keep me busy since I'm hooked up to the pump for over two hours everyday. My husband and I figured out that I've already pumped for the equivalent of 15 full days. That's a lot of time to fill and part of the reason I started this blog. I spend the time online, reading, or watching TV so thought I'd post about the book I just finished, Womenomics, by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay. The book's cover says "How to stop juggling and struggling and finally start living and working the way you really want." I was pretty skeptical of this but since I just went back to work after maternity leave, I was intrigued. I have to say it was better than I thought. I had already managed to get a more flexible schedule after having the baby and was allowed to work from home almost the entire first month I went back. Now I work from home one day a week permanently and have the flexibility to work from home other days if something comes up. I also have flexibility in my day itself so most days it's easy for me to take my laptop down to the Mother's Room at the office so I can pump. I consider myself very lucky. My only criticism of the book was that you really have to have reached a certain level in a professional career for their suggestions to work. A waitress, nurse, or teacher for example cannot negotiate for flexibility. Nor can most of us tell our boss or coworkers that we only check email twice a day. If my boss got an autoresponse from me that I only check email at 4pm when he needed something hours before that, he would not be pleased. But, I do think their general philosophy that the workplace is becoming more flexible and more about getting the work done then the time spent in the office is true. They also make the point that women need to give up the guilt about getting out of the office on time to spend time with their families and I completely agree. All in all, I'm not sure I learned anything new from this book but their general concept is a good one.