My mother is a doctor who started a solo practice in the
1970s when there weren’t many working mothers, let alone working mother doctors. She worked tirelessly to establish her
practice and then became one of the busiest primary care doctors in the area. I
think she was happy with her decision to practice medicine but I know she has
regrets about working full time. She
often told me that she wished she could have worked part time or taken off time
while we were young. When I started a
family, her advice was to spend less time working and more time with my
kids.
I’ve taken her advice very seriously and have tried very
hard to find a happy balance between work and mothering, but in many ways, I am
my mother’s daughter. I am a
doctor. I am a mother of three
children. I struggle with issues around work and balance and guilt. But I
am also very driven to succeed and my mother’s path may be a big contributor of
that drive. By witnessing her courage, strength, and perseverance,
I knew that women could work and their kids would still turn out to be
great.
That’s why it’s so encouraging to see research that supports
what I always knew – that the children of working moms are very likely to
succeed.
A few months ago, researchers from Harvard Business School
published findings from a study where they found
that daughters of working mothers were more likely to work themselves, have
supervisory roles, and earn higher incomes compared with daughters of
non-working mothers.
This is exciting and affirming news for all us working
moms. And in some ways it's not so surprising. When I think about my kids and who they will
grow up to be, I often wonder what will motivate them, what will make them
happy, and what will shape their future selves. There’s no question in my mind that role
models play a huge role in shaping their decisions, their paths, and their
destinies.
As for my own mother, I shared this study with her and she
wasn’t surprised by its findings. But
she still feels sad that she wasn’t always around after school and on the long
days of summer and in the classroom as a volunteer. Those feelings seem pretty universal and
hard to shake.
The good news is that she is now retired, has six grandchildren,
and lots of time to enjoy them. Plus she
has three kids who are successful by any definition and who deeply love her and are
grateful for her hard work and for the role model that she was to us.