They are the daughters of the feminist revolution -- the first generation of Stanford women whose mothers marched out of the house carrying briefcases and wearing power suits and Reeboks. Within the next decade, when these women start having children of their own, they'll enjoy parental leave policies, on-site day care and tasteful maternity business suits--advantages their mothers never had.
Still, the prospect of juggling work and family has many of them worried. "Females our age definitely consider the balancing act that we will have to do," says Katie Chang, a freshman from Saratoga, Calif. "We are the children of women who tried to do it all, so we have the advantage of seeing the problems. Many of my friends grew up in day care, and while they understand the pressures [their mothers] were under, they also wished they could have spent more time with them."
Many freshmen are tailoring their careers to put a higher priority on a balanced life. Kerry Danahy, for example, says she's considered law school, "but the 90-hour work weeks required of associates can't coexist with any kind of meaningful family life. At times I feel I'm selling myself short, but I believe that one of the highest achievements men and women should aim for is to successfully raise children."
The two freshmen are not unusual. According to Lynne Dotson, associate director of Stanford's Career Planning and Placement Center, an increasing number of students have concerns about balancing work and family. Many comment on the need for "quality of life"--a phrase Dotson rarely heard 10 or 15 years ago. "Most of these young women have seen the fallout from those who constantly struggled to have it all and paid the price with varying stress disorders," Dotson says.
Female students seem to have arrived at their opinions through personal experience, not politics. Mary Elizabeth DuBois, a co-founder of the National Organization for Women on campus, says she, too, probably will take time off from a career when her children are young. "I hope I'll have the economic resources and the
opportunity to re-enter the workforce," says the American studies major. "I'm hoping that, in time, it won't have to be women alone who make these either-or sacrifices."
Women like DuBois are pushing society to rethink traditional gender roles. Rebecca Laverdure, a graduate student in the University's gender studies program asks: "Why does working 60 hours a week to become a partner in a firm define success, while raising a child is relegated to a logical extension of a woman's biology?"
Theresa Johnston, '83 is a Palo Alto freelance writer and frequent contributor to Stanford. She is the mother of two school-age sons.
