But What If I Don't Want to Lean In?

Some great numbers in Sunday’s New York Times article about women who don’t want to lean in.

Unaccounted for in the latest books offering leadership strategies by and for elite women is the fact that only 37 percent of working women (and 44 percent of working men) say they actually want a job with more responsibilities, according to a survey from the Families and Work Institute. And among all mothers with children under 18, just a quarter say they would choose full-time work if money were no object and they were free to do whatever they wanted, according to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll.

By comparison, about half of mothers in the United States are actually working full time, indicating that there are a lot out there logging many more hours than they want to be.

I’m glad that Sandberg had a few minutes to talk about high powered female CEO’s. I’m glad that there are Sandberg-types around. But now I’m ready to move on and talk about regular families who are flat-out exhausted and crave time at home with their families.

UPDATE: There’s been some backlash against this article, because it fails to mention the dads. See the New Republic and the Nation. I think that the critics are missing the point. Sure, in a better world, employers would be kinder to families. And, sure, it would be better if men did more of the housecleaning chores. BUT right now, in our less than perfect world, women are working their asses off at home and at the office, and they’re burnt out. They don’t want to deal with the office BS, but many have to because the family needs the money. In survey after survey, women say that they would rather have a part-time job, rather than a full time job.