Working Moms

An Interview with Working Mother Magazine President and Author Carol Evans on What They Face and How They Manage It

By Sarah Bennett-Astesano

All moms are busy people. But working mothers have one more major responsibility on their to-do lists: a job. If you need reminding that it's challenging to be both a parent and employed, there's always the well-meaning neighbor to observe that, "You must have your hands full," or a popular novel on the shelves, such as Allison Pearson's I Don't Know How She Does It.

Read also: What Working Moms Need

Carol Evans, CEO and president of Working Mother magazine, serves up some answers to mothers' work-life predicaments with her own new book, This Is How We Do It: The Working Mothers' Manifesto. She also takes the issue of moms who work to a new level. Emphasizing the solutions moms have created and the innovative supports implemented by some employers, Evans treats working motherhood as fact, and doesn't rehash the should-she/shouldn't-she debate. Focusing on the routes to fulfillment, Evans highlights strategies and tips from 25 years of Working Mother's readers and combines them with reports on the strides that both companies and governments are making. The book sounds a positive note from the very first chapter, aptly titled: "But We Are Doing It."

We recently spoke to Evans about the state of working motherhood in America. Here's some of the conversation:

What's a manifesto and why do working mothers need one?