April 12, 2011
Wall Street Journal Article About Working Moms

Recently, the Wall Street Journal included a special section about women in the economy. I was intrigued by a quote on the front page from Sallie Krawcheck, the president of global wealth and investment management at Bank of America. She said, "I convinced my husband that when the toddler woke up in the middle of the night and screamed, "Mommy," he actually meant, "Parent of either sex.""

I flipped to the full interview and was astonished at what I read. Here is an excerpt:

MR. MURRAY: You've talked about how demanding the Wall Street life is. Weighing that against the demand of the kids at home, did you ever reach the point where you said, "You know what, there are other things I could do?" Did you ever think it's not worth the effort?

MS. KRAWCHECK: I was fortunate in that I had a career break in my 20s. So I wandered through my 20s not knowing what I wanted to do, was in investment banking for a period of time and left my job when I was pregnant with my son. I was very much on the track of, "I'll probably do some part-time nonprofit work, maybe some part-time for-profit work, and really stay at home with my son."

A few months in, I found myself on my hands and knees trying to teach him to crawl. And then there was another day when some friends went to play doubles tennis and it upset me that I wasn't included. Those two things happened. I said, "I cannot do this to my family. It's not fair to them, and I need to work."

MR. MURRAY: Elaborate on what you mean by "I cannot do this to my family."

MS. KRAWCHECK: I've just got too much energy to do that to that poor kid. Let me do that to our clients. Let me do it to the folks that are paid to work with me. I have too much of that neurotic energy. So I really have never questioned whether it's right for me and for my family to work.

MR. MURRAY: After that, you never felt guilt?

MS. KRAWCHECK: When you leave and the three-year-old is crying, "Don't go Mommy, don't go," you have to have a heart of stone not to feel guilt. But I never showed fear. I had a certainty that I loved what I was doing. It was good for my family. And so I was pretty steady about it.

Wow. First of all, I have never met a three-year-old who wouldn't benefit from a mother with "too much energy." Second of all, after expending all her "neurotic energy" at work and tennis with her friends, what does she have left to give her family?

I, too, used to have a successful Wall Street career which I left behind after the birth of my son. Sure it was hard giving up the perks of a 6-figure income and the status that came with it, but I am so honored to stay at home with my beautiful children! Ms. Krawcheck says "I cannot do this to my family. It' s not fair to them, and I need to work." I say "I MUST do this for my family. It's not fair to them if I work, and I need to stay home."

Thank you for helping stay-at-home moms find validation.

Best,

Gretchen

Posted by Staff at 9:39 PM