SOM Dean comments in Profnet Wire's "Mommy Wars"
“Round-Up: The Mommy Wars” (March 20) on Profnet Wire interviewed leading experts on the trend and business implications of mothers leaving the workforce to stay at home. Simmons SOM Dean Deborah Merrill-Sands and Simmons College President Daniel Cheever were both featured. “Studies by Simmons researchers show the vast majority of women plan to work again after leaving temporarily for childrearing. In 2002, a national survey [Teen Girls on Business] of more than 4,000 teenage girls by Simmons faculty and the women’s leadership group The Committee of 200 found that 97 percent expected to support themselves of their families. Eighty percent expected to work full time as adults. The danger of “Mommy War”-type stories is that they give the mistaken impression that women don’t aspire to top leadership positions in business and society. The stories might also reinforce discriminatory practices among employers,” said Merrill-Sands. Cheever added, “As president of a small university that includes an undergraduate women’s college, I can say without equivocation that women are ready, willing and able to compete and lead in science, the law and every other field. Many already do. But they will not do so in appropriate numbers until men start sharing more of the workload at home. Yes, real men do housework.”
Read the full article: Profnet Wire Learn more about the Teen Girls on Business survey
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