As I read Juggling, I was struck repeatedly with the truth of Faye Crosby's observations. There are costs ; but there are also enormous benefits for the juggler, her family, and her work. If Ms. Crosby had been at our meeting, I think she would have cautioned us against being overly self-critical (a difficult task for an engineer!) and encouraged us to be realistic. She would have told us not to accept either of the false stereotypes about women who juggle home, family and career: "super-woman" who is never stressed by conflicting demands of her many roles (mother, professional, wife); or "frazzled-woman" who is always overwhelmed by her roles ; are both myths. Women are juggling successfully and they, their families and their co-workers actually all benefit!
Faye Crosby begins her book with a three-part prescription for "any woman who has felt the curious mix of self-doubt and exhilaration as she tries to combine life outside the house with love inside the home." First, don't blame yourself when you find it difficult to combine work outside the home with family responsibilities. The problems will be there whether you combine roles or not. Second, don't let the stress of juggling keep you from combining roles. There are benefits that you don't want to lose. Third, work to change the conditions that make juggling difficult. The problem comes from the society around us. From this prescription, the author challenges a number of modern-day assumptions about women who work outside the home and presents data to support her conclusion that juggling, "the apparent source of much stress, is in fact a potentially important way of alleviating stress." She then reviews the benefits of juggling; being a good model for our children, improved mental health (having a variety of roles is a good way of combating depression), and economic benefits of additional income. Not surprisingly she concludes that the rewards outweigh the costs.
Juggling is well researched and well documented (54 pages of footnotes support the 200 pages of text). Ms. Crosby draws on her own research as well as ten years worth of studies investigating gender and life roles.