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A Balancing Act: Leslie Bennetts, Author of The Feminine Mistake

In the first of a two part series, Leslie took time out to speak with me about her own life and the findings in her book.

Samantha: Many moms think they will just take the baby years off from work. What are the implications for making this decision?

Leslie: There is this myth out there that you can opt-out when your children are young and then go back when they are older when it suits you. Over and over again in my interviews, I have stay at home moms say to me, �??I am smart, I have skills, I have credentials, I will be able to find something when I want.�?� The reality is they take X number of years out of the workforce and when they decide it is time to go back, they send out 150 resumes and they don't get one job interview. Everybody who has studied this has found is that there is tremendous ageism and sexism. I think that the media and popular culture has done women a disservice by portraying the opting-out part of the equation and not informing women about the difficulties of opting back in.

Samantha: You have been a journalist for your entire professional career. How did your professional life change once you had children?

Leslie: I made a huge change in order to accommodate having a family. I was a daily newspaper reporter for 15 years. I spent ten of those years at The New York Times. Although I know many fabulous women at the Times who have stayed and had families and continued with their careers, it is difficult if you are a reporter and you are on call 24/7. So, I jumped at the opportunity to move into the magazine world when I was pregnant with my first child and hired at Vanity Fair.  There is just a different pace at a magazine than at a daily newspaper.

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