The XX Factor: What women really think.

Now or Later?

Here’s the only quibble I have with your smart (if depressing) post, Dana. I wrote yesterday assuming that younger unmarried women are fretting about such things as work-life balance when constructing their fantasy lives. But on second thought, I wonder if that’s really what’s driving Sam and some of Jessica’s young writers into the arms of Daddy Warbucks. I'm reconsidering because I’m sometimes asked to speak to students about work-life balance, and two things always strike me: 1) Men never show up to these talks;  and 2) women can’t really imagine what its like to have a toddler yelling “mommy don’t work” as they struggle into their Spanx, because until you’ve actually experienced the sheer lunacy of working motherhood, it seems like it might be sort of manageable. So I guess I am asking the younger women in the group to clarify whether they want Mr. Howell for now or for later?