Working it Out: Career, Family and You by Jayne Anderson

by Jayne Anderson

Jayne Anderson interviews a number of prominent women from all walks of life about how they successfully combined motherhood with a career. Among those interviewed are Tanya Plibersek, Helen Reddy, Rachel Ward and Jackie Kelly.

226 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2015

Reviews

[Tom Krause · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not into self-help books. I usually figure if you can't work it out yourself, you'll never work it out. But Working it Out by Jayne Anderson will not only help women (and men) manage their careers and their families, but it also provides interesting information about the people she's interviewed from Deputy Opposition Leader, Tanya Plibersek, to Singer Helen Reddy, to pilot Deborah Lawrie to actress and director, Rachel Ward, and former Liberal Minister, Jackie Kelly. Most of the women profiled in the book are highly organised and self-driven. Surgeon and former Australian of the Year Fiona Wood has six children, and when Jayne asks her if she has enough time for her children, her career and her husband, she replies: "I don't believe I have enough time full stop." But somehow she manages. Tanya Plibersek says she has three children, and admits she and her husband have to be "super disciplined and super organised." They live by their diaries and "we don't leave anything to the last minute." Deborah Lawrie, the first female commercial airline pilot in Australia, became a single mother and had to get a live-in au pair for her son, Tom. But she was highly organised and continued her full-time career. Jayne also interviewed Tom, and while he was a bit unhappy with his mother being away so often, he's also a commercial airline pilot and now thinks it was good his mother had a career. The daughter of anti-nuclear campaigner Helen Caldicott said she missed her mother when she was growing up. But Penny said her mother inspired her to follow her dreams and become a doctor. Helen admits she would have liked to spend more time with her kids, but they turned out really well. There are similar stories throughout the book and Jayne talks about her story as a television producer and credits her three bosses at the Sunday Program at Channel Nine with being ahead of their time in providing work arrangements. I was one of them, Executive Producer Stephen Rice was another and Presenter Jim Waley the third. I thought I'd better mention that. She ends the book with 36 conclusions to "Working It Out," including "There is no single 'right' way to combine parenthood and paid work." If you are a mother or a house husband and you need hints on how to manage a career and a happy family at the same time, this is the book for you.

[Ros H · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a new mother thinking through what life will be like when I return to work, this was the perfect book for me. I loved reading about the various ways a group of prominent women have managed the work/family juggle. I learned so much from their stories and picked up some great practical tips. This book was a great conversation starter with the ladies in my mothers group and I will be talking about it with work colleagues and friends for a long while yet!