How to have a career and a baby
As Bob Dylan so eloquently sung in 1964 "the times they are a changin'". And indeed they are - no longer are women expected to make the choice between having a career or having babies. They can have both! But with this empowerment comes an array of issues surrounding working mums. We review the advice of two working mums in The Working Mothers Survival Guide
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Title: The Working Mothers Survival Guide
Author: Melissa Doyle and Jo Scard
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
RRP: $29.95
While there have been plenty of books penned on pregnancy and child rearing, the advice seems to fall short for working mothers.
Written by two working mums - TV presenter Melissa Doyle and communications consultant Jo Scard - The Working Mothers Survival Guide endeavours to provide all the essential information for mothers wishing to return to the work force.
Featuring advice from experts, such as lawyers and healthcare, inspiring working mums and the authors themselves, the book covers everything from pre-conception to returning to work.
Doyle and Scard address important issues such as how to tell your boss you're pregnant, your legal rights with maternity leave, how to manage depression and anxiety and how to budget for medical costs, but also the more mundane from how to overcome morning sickness, shop for your ever expanding body and stop colleagues touching your baby bump.
Each chapter is also backed up with a list of resources to find more information as 'handy hints' and checklists.
However, while Doyle and Scard try not to sound superior by constantly referring to their little "struggles", the outcome unfortunately boarders on patronising.
And while the personalised stories scattered throughout each section do help to break up the read and give the book that more personalised touch, it is slightly annoying when, not only the contributors, but also the authors, throw in every chance to note their own achievements.
For example, Scard jumps at every opportunity to mention her European escapades, abundant wealth, fabulous career and war photographer husband.
"I suspected I might be pregnant with my first child and bought two pregnancy tests from a Parisian pharmacy as I was working in Europe at the time."
Its extracts such as these that grate under the skin as unnecessary details and in the process make the guide hard for ordinary women to relate to.
So while the book not only covers a wide range of issues affecting most working mothers, providing some great advice in the process, it is unfortunately overshadowed by the authors' egos.
