Mothers on the Fast Track How a New Generation Can Balance Family and Careers

In the past few decades the number of women entering graduate and professional schools has been going up and up, while the number of women reaching the top rung of the corporate and academic worlds has remained relatively stagnant. Why are so many women falling off the fast track? In thistimely book, Mary Ann Mason traces the career paths of the first generation of ambitious women who started careers in academia, law, medicine, business, and the media in large numbers in the 1970s and '80s. Along with her daughter, Mason has written a guide for young women who are facing the toughdecision of when--and if--to start a family. It is also a guide for older women seeking a second chance to break through to the next level, as Mason herself did in academia. The book features anecdotes and strategies from the dozens of women they interviewed. Advice ranges from the personal (knowwhen to say "no," the importance of time management) to the institutional, with suggestions for how the workplace itself can be changed to make it easier for ambitious working mothers to reach the top levels. The result is a roadmap of new choices for women facing the sobering question of how tobalance a successful career with family. "Lots of excellent advice for women facing different career stages." -BusinessWeek "An interesting look at the real challenges that mothers face in balancing work and family in a variety of professions."--National Review "Must reading for professional women starting families, second chapters or simply trying to break through to the next level. An indispensable guide and realistic cost-benefit analysis of motherhood and women's careers." -- Lynn Povich, former Editor-in-Chief of Working Woman magazine

Mary Ann Mason is the first woman to be appointed Graduate Dean at University of California, Berkeley. A former lawyer, she can speak from personal experience about the struggle to balance family responsibilities and a fast-track career. A national expert on child custody issues, Mason is author of From Father's Property to Children's Rights, The Custody Wars, and The Equality Trap.
Eve Mason Ekman is a medical social worker in the San Francisco County General Hospital Emergency room and also curates art exhibits locally and nationally. She has a Masters in Social Work from the University of California where she was the editor, founder and art director of an interdisciplinary publication between the schools of Journalism and Social Welfare.