Women make up just over half the workforce in America and almost 70 percent of women with children work. Men in two-earner families know that women are not working for "pin" money. Many of us work because we have focused on a career all our adult lives and make our contribution to the world around us through our work and our earning power.   Many of us work because we support our families as co-breadwinners or as sole breadwinners. These are working mother stories.  We juggle and ask for or seek flexible work arrangements. We use our sick days for the kids and vacation days to see school plays or sit in hospitals with loved ones.  We do our jobs well because we want to be treated well and we want our children to be proud of us.

This week our colleague, a journalist who is now the First Lady of California, Maria Shriver, has unveiled a collaborative report called "A Woman's Nation." In it, based on research and conversations, she catalogues the state of American women which adds a fine point to some of what we report on and have tried to set the bar on - that what is good for working mothers is good for the American family. 30 years of Working Mother has chronicled the issues and helped tease out the answers by benchmarking America's companies and their family friendly policies. "The Shriver Report" looks at a wider set of issues - everything from government policies to faith.  It raises the question of how could women continue to broaden their scope and yet deal with institutions which remain stuck in a time warp. We as a country ignore child care and elder care needs across the board.  We have a school year based on an agrarian community which no longer exists.  We have school events which take place during the work day. Paid family leave seems to be a pipe dream. And even though Health Care Reform is the phrase of the day in Washington, we already know so much has landed on the cutting room floor that this version of the health care insurance plan will not resemble the collective image of what it could and should be.
The list of family needs does not stop here.  It will take the intense spirit of all to keep the issue in the forefront and not let these issues and this report become a trendy media story with a short shelf life.

Join us in the conversation along with lots of other smart women and men around the country.  Comments welcome.

Written by Helen Jonsen, editor of workingmother.com