Getting to 50/50

How Working Parents Can Have It All by Sharing It All - and Why It’s Good for Your Marriage, Your Career, Your Kids, and You

By: Sharon Meers, Joanna Strober

Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin

Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober are professionals, wives, and mothers. They understand the challenges and rewards of two-career households. They also know that families thrive not in spite of working mothers but because of them. You can have a great career, a great marriage, and be a great mother. The key is tapping into your best resource and most powerful ally - the man you married.

After interviewing hundreds of parents and employers, surveying more than a thousand working mothers, and combing through the latest government and social-science research, the authors have discovered that kids, husbands, and wives all reap huge benefits when couples commit to share equally as breadwinners and caregivers. Mothers work without guilt, fathers bond with their kids, and children blossom with the attention of two involved parents.

The starting point? An attitude shift that puts you on the road to 50/50 - plus the positive step-by-step advice in this book.

From "baby boot camp" for new dads to exactly what to say when negotiating a leave with the boss, this savvy book is full of fresh ideas for today’s families offering encouragement, hope, and confidence to any woman who has ever questioned her choices regarding work and family.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2009 Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober (P)2013 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Great overall, but a bit offensive...

Would you listen to Getting to 50/50 again? Why?

It has a great message overall but...

As a husband who sought out and read this book on my own I was a bit offended by the general framing. The author tends to phrase things as "This is what you need to do to get your husband to do his part." I'm sure for a lot of couples that is the dynamic, but assuming that is the dynamic sort of perpetuate it.

After I mentioned to my mom that I was reading it, and that it has some really good points, she picked it up in a books store and the back cover had a blurb like "Every woman in america should read this book," which elicited the same response from her that I had to the book as a whole. Mainly if you frame getting to 50 / 50 as something one member of the couple is trying to do, and not both people it sets up the wrong dynamic.

"Getting to 50 / 50" is clearly written with woman as its target audience, which then makes it less accessible to men, who arguable are the ones who really need to read it.

Bottom line:
If your thinking about having kids you should read this. If your a guy don't let the framing of the book turn you away, think of it as gender karma.

Will read again and again

Very encouraging book on why and how you should strive towards 50/50 with your partner

Great book for working moms & dads

After listening to this book I have decided my husband and i will read it together every evening before bed. Thank you to all who contributed to this amazing book.

enlightening

I really enjoyed it, lots of practical suggests, creative problem solving and warnings of pit traps to avoid. A especially valuable read if you grew up with the 'traditional family model'.