Maternal Optimism: Forging Positive Paths Through Work and Motherhood

Abstract

The desire or willingness to see the positive in events or conditions of combining motherhood with paid work with an expectation of favorable outcomes" (ix) Across 9 chapters and 250 pages, Ladge and Greenberg expertly weave personal anecdotes with quotes from their own research, while also integrating others' reports and research to explore how women can survive and thrive in the work and family domains.Spanning the gamut of potential work-life events, Maternal Optimism tackles the topics of pre-pregnancy, maternity, return to work, empty nesting, and retirement, grouped into the overarching categories of expected and unexpected paths. Designed as a resource for working women to "provide…stories and research that supports the notion of owning and feeling confident in the choices you make as future or current working mothers" (x), each chapter follows a well-organized structure, concluding with key takeaways and references.As a work-family and leadership researcher (e.g., Gloor & Braun, 2020;Gloor et al., 2018), this reviewer relays the book's key themes, focusing on relevant topics for management scholars, practitioners, as well as academic and organizational leaders. Beginning with the most prominent messages, this review concludes with COVID-19-related reflections.While the core critique is its American-centric focus, because the authors are Americans working in the United States (U.S.)-but work-family research in general is also quite U.S.centric (see Williams et al., 2016)-this approach is also reasonable. With dual affiliations in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Switzerland, this reviewer aims to complement Ladge and Greenberg's valuable insights with a more global perspective and international examples.