The world of banking and finance is an area that has long been considered a male one. And while the finance boys’ club is still very much alive and well, women are making major inroads—including working mothers who have long been marginalized in a field that demands long hours and a tough skin. This makes the accomplishments of the women on our Most Powerful Moms in Finance list all the more commendable.

So how did we choose workingmother.com’s list of the Most Powerful Moms in Finance? First, the women on this list all have at least one child living at home who is 18 years old or younger, and are also all U.S. based. And while there were a vast number of accomplished women in finance to choose from, the women selected are major power players, handling billions if not trillions of dollars in assets and staffs of thousands or are in positions in the government with a role impacting policy decisions that shape the financial markets.

Sallie Krawcheck, who made the list, started her career as an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein and Co. and is now at Bank of America overseeing the wealth management business and over $2.1 trillion in assets. Abigail Johnson, President of Fidelity’s Investments and Personal Workplace Investing, is considered a shoe-in for the CEO post when her 80-year-old father Edward Johnson, steps down. That potential promotion would put her at the helm of the biggest mutual fund in the country making Johnson a woman to watch.

Ellen Alemany is the CEO of Citizens Financial Group, the U.S. subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the world’s largest banks based on its assets. Alemany is currently the only woman CEO of a top ten bank in the U.S. Susan Wagner, Vice Chairman and Co-COO of BlackRock led the firm’s $13.5 billion purchase of Barclays Global Investors in 2009—an acquisition that catapulted BlackRock into becoming one of the largest asset management firms in the country.

Several women on our list have been put on the clean-up crew tasked with digging the U.S. out of the financial crisis that began in 2008. Barbara Desoer who heads Bank of America’s Home Loans Division has often been referred to in the press as having one of the hardest jobs in the country. Desoer is in charge of a division that accounts for roughly 20 percent of the US mortgage origination market. Her focus is to move Bank of America beyond the mortgage meltdown.

In government positions that impact policy, Mary Schapiro is the first woman Chairperson of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Sheila Bair is currently the Chairperson of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Both have been fundamental in helping to stabilize U.S. financial firms and markets.

So how do our Most Powerful Mom’s in Finance attempt to balance work and family? Just like for most working mother’s the term “balance” might be a misnomer. Wagner of BlackRock told Reuters recently, "I tell people I have two full-time jobs. There is no such thing as the right balance between work and family. I'm torn at times; you can't get it right."