14 / 48
14
I
Nonprofit
Performance
Magazine
T
he one thing people, particularly
women, want to know is how I
balance being a mother, a professional,
a wife, a woman, and they want to
know how things have changed for us
over the course of this journey and as
First Lady.
Lesson One:
Like many women, I do a whole lot of
juggling. I cut back on my hours at my job,
which I love, to give me more time. My
focus is keeping my kids sane and making
sure Malia and Sasha stay in their routine as
much as possible. Barack and I measure how
well we are doing by how the girls are. They
are just fine, going to ballet and gymnastics,
they care about the next pizza party, and then
there is school. I make sure we are on point
academically, and that we go to all the parent-
teacher conferences. It is quite a scheduling
feat, but we make presentations and school
plays happen.
LessonTwo:
I would not be able to do it without a support
network. My mother, Mama Kaye (the girls’
godmother), and girlfriends of mine help me
shuttle and keep me held up.
LessonThree:
I still try to find time for myself, getting the
hair and nails done, and getting a workout.
That’s one of the things I always talk about:
gotta exercise.
Lesson Four:
My life is not that different from yours. I
wake up every morning wondering how I am
going to pull off that next minor miracle to
get through the day. Every woman, regardless
of race, education, income, background,
political affiliation, struggles to keep her
head above water. For many of us it is a
necessity, rather than a badge of honor to
do it all and we have to be very careful not
to lose ourselves in the process. Women are
usually the primary caretakers, in charge of
keeping the household together, scheduling
babysitters, planning play dates, keeping
up with doctor’s appointments, supervising
homework, handing discipline.
Lesson Five:
Those of us working outside of the home
have the additional challenge of coordinating
household things with our job responsibilities.
How many of us are the ones who stay home
with a sick child? Or, when a toilet overflows
- shortly before the inauguration, I was
scrambling to reschedule a 9:00 meeting and
Barack, love him to death, got dressed and
left!
Lesson Six:
Women have the added social pressure of
staying slim, having our wardrobe pulled
together, and being in good spirits, ready to
support our significant others. Women face
a higher level of challenges in our journey,
balancing work, family, and ourselves
differently than ever before.
Balancing the Journey
MiCHELLE OBAMA
Lesson Seven:
We’ve made great strides in equality at
all levels of society and because of the
struggles so many have fought.Women
can envision themselves any way that
they want, as surgeons, Supreme Court
justices, basketball stars, images that I
never had growing up. But I wonder
about the unspoken cost of having it
all. If we’re scurrying to appointments and
errands, we don’t have much time to care for
our own mental and physical health; juggling
adds another layer of stress, causing increased
heart attacks, diabetes, and asthma.
There aren’t enough hours in the day, so we
do what we can, despite the fact that women
and families are not getting needed support.
We talk about family values, but our society
doesn’t show that it values families.
Lesson Eight:
We have essentially ignored the plight of
women and families. Figure out how to
support a family on minimum wage and no
benefits, who is going to watch your children
while you are at work without adequate
affordable childcare, how to ensure that your
children get the best education possible, and
how you are going to live without access to
affordable housing. We’ve told women to
dream big but, after that, you are on your own.
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama is a lawyer, writer,
and the wife of the 44th President, Barack Obama.
Through her four main initiatives, she has become
a role model for women and an advocate for healthy
families, service members and their families, higher
education, and international adolescent girls’ education.