cover image Everything a Working Mother Needs to Know

Everything a Working Mother Needs to Know

Anne Cicero Weisberg. Main Street Books, $14.95 (235pp) ISBN 978-0-385-42410-3

``Images of working mothers as not committed to their careers, or better suited to being home, or grasping for more than they deserve, often form the basis for how their work is evaluated. Seeing through these images is the first step in taking control of your experience as a working mother,'' advise Weisberg and Buckler, each one both a lawyer and a mother. Their realistic assessment of the obstacles often presented to working mothers, whether at home (``husbands act as if they have traditional wives . . . even if they don't'') or at the workplace, will be helpful to anyone plotting the considerable life changes posed by parenting to the professional. Their book is detailed, logical and persistent in counseling constructive strategies for offsetting the resistance of some supervisors, clients and colleagues to motherhood; in negotiating for leaves and benefits; in dealing with changes brought upon marriage by a new baby; in contemplating child care options; and--even--in leaving work for good, or trading the office for self-employment in the home. Stories of how particular women have coped bring the volume down to earth, and the authors' legal expertise stands them--and their readers--in good stead. 50,000 first printing; author tour. (Feb.)