by Kim Russell

Created on: November 15, 2009

Women have fought for decades for equal rights. Now that the goal is within reach, many women fight against the very things that those before them have fought so diligently. Interpersonal relationships have long been neglected when discussing the issues of women's rights, although, by far, these relationships are more important to most women than any rights associated with the work place.

Fighting the good fight, women have severely decreased the distance between the ability of men to achieve and the ability of women to achieve in the workplace. But to what expense to women? Working women with families may have, as my grandmother would say, cut their nose off despite their face. Examination of the normal historic development of the family dynamic as women rose through the ranks in business, probably reveals a typical situation wherein both the mother and father work 40 hours a week. But, based on societal expectations and long-ingrained training, the mother then shoulders more than her fair share of the responsibilities of maintaining a home and providing care for the children. Historically, in a traditional home, the mother would not only put in her eight-hour work day, but might also then stop on the way home for groceries, prepare the evening meal once home, assist the children with any required schoolwork, provide taxi service for children's extracurricular activities, do a quick clean-up around the home, and finally fall into bed exhausted.

Naturally, in our more modern age, men take much more of a role in the household responsibilities than they did stereo-typically and historically. Our metro-sexual males gladly participate in cooking, cleaning, shopping, sharing in responsibilities with the children. As they say, times they are a' changing. And for the good. Children profit immensely from the participation of both genders of parents in all aspects of their lives - play and parenting. Evolution and revolution are proving beneficial for our next generation.

When divorce raises its mighty ugly head, however, all bets are off. Suddenly, women tend to revert to their pre-1960's stance of "its my job." This attitude leads to mothers who are over-worked and over-extended, who then lack any time and energy to provide their beloved little ones with the much needed attention they not only want, but require.

As a divorce mediator for well over ten years, I have seen this dynamic played out in front of me more times than I wish to recall. Mothers come to the table

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