The Struggle is Real: New Mothers Open Up About Why the Juggle is Even Harder in Hotel Management
Experts agree, that “having it all is not possible.” Motherhood is messy and further complicated by demands placed on women by society, the workplace, and our own expectations of family life. A new book, Pay Up, by women’s rights activist Reshma Saujani, says women have been fed “‘The Big Lie,’ which boils down to this: It makes no difference how much we lean into our careers or “whether we partner up with ‘one of the good ones,’ because we...
Experts agree, that “having it all is not possible.” Motherhood is messy and further complicated by demands placed on women by society, the workplace, and our own expectations of family life. A new book, Pay Up, by women’s rights activist Reshma Saujani, says women have been fed “‘The Big Lie,’ which boils down to this: It makes no difference how much we lean into our careers or “whether we partner up with ‘one of the good ones,’ because we participate in a workforce and live in a society that do not make ‘having it all’ actually possible.”
The good news: research suggests that girls raised in homes with working mothers are more likely to grow up to have successful careers, and sons of working mothers spent more time as adults caring for family members. Win-win! The challenge of being a working mom, while important and personally fulfilling, is really hard as studies show working moms shoulder a disproportionate amount of household admin and chores.
While Covid-19 restrictions prompted an exodus of mothers from the U.S. labor force, we know that women’s advancement in the workforce matters; companies with more women executives are more likely to outperform those with fewer senior women. Reshma goes on to say, that the pandemic has offered the opportunity of a lifetime to try and make systemic changes that will help women in the workforce and at home.
In an even newer book, Ambitious Like a Mother: Why Prioritizing Your Career Is Good for Your Kids, author Lara Bazelon argues, “Feminism today must be about more than these structural changes. We have to redefine what it means to be a good mother. The truth is that motherhood is beautiful…but it can also be a mess. It’s important to be honest about this.”
Hospitality, by nature an in-person business, adds a layer of complexity to the motherhood juggle, already fraught with anxiety and guilt, especially for new moms. To provide greater insight, hertelier reached out to a panel of new mothers with children under the age of six, in a range of roles from GM to sales from a variety of hotel companies, for an honest conversation about how they’re feeling, and their tips for how the industry should move ahead.