Becoming a Working Mother

Abstract

Chapter 3 covers the transition to the postnatal period. We focus first on the experience of maternity leave and some of the factors that help and hinder new mothers in the process of becoming confident about being good mothers. We consider the varied ways women go about managing their maternity leave both in terms of work and at home and the questions to ask oneself about how to best manage this time given one’s own work and family circumstances. We then turn our attention to the initial return-to-work period. We explore how women can work with their managers, their partners, and caregivers to establish new routines at work and at home that support their new lives as working mothers.