Sequencing

By Arlene Cardozo and Cardozo

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068911608X
• ISBN13: 9780689116087
• Release Date: October 1986
• Publisher: Atheneum Books
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent Advice!

I was so fortunate to able to stay home with my daughter full-time. Before I stayed home full-time, I had had a varied and lucrative career life. But being a mom was my priority. When my daughter went to pre-school, I started working part-time and now that she's in kindergarten, I'm working full-time as a librarian, and my career choice allows me to work around my daughter's school schedule. I can take her to school and pick her up after school. I am now working in my dream field, and my job is only going to continue to grow and allow me to advance. If I hadn't been able to take the time off for my daughter, I don't think I would have found such fulfillment in my career life once I decided to re-enter the workforce. This book is great support for Moms who choose to stay home full-time and put their career life on hold for a few years!

Words of support for stay-at-home-mothers.

Sequencing, a term coined by the author, is the process ofmaking adjustments in your life and career so that you are able tostay home with your children during their formative years. There areso many ways to do this, from starting a home business to quittingwork altogether and reentering the workforce years later. This is theaffirmation that women who opt to stay at home with their childrenhave been waiting for. This book and philosophy have become the basisof a national organization called "Mothers & More"(formerly known as F.E.M.A.L.E.) that works as a support group forSAHMs and as an advocate for their rights as members of theworkforce...I can't say enough about this organization! It hasbrought an end to the isolation and routine of being a full-time mom.

Sequencing for 2000 and Beyond

This outstanding book is more relevant for women of 2000 than ever before, because Sequencing--a term the author coined--has now become the preferred way of life for millions of women throughout the country who have predicated their own life choices on the concepts set forth in the book. This new edition of the groundbreaking study elucidates how women make their choices regarding fulltime careers, leaving fulltime work to mother their children, then developing a host of methods to use their training and expertise in new ways. Today this book is the paradigm for the way almost all married mothers choose to design and redesign their adult lives. It is a MUST for all married mothers, as well as for women contemplating motherhood.

Excellent for working moms considering staying at home.

This is the first book I've read that gives a concise, accurate account of the dilemma professional women face once they become or consider becoming mothers. It provides welcome support of moms who are called to stay at home with their children during the precious preschool years and beyond. It also provides strategies on how women can later reintegrate their careers to meet their needs and the needs of their families rather than those of their employers. I highly recommend Sequencing to all working moms!

An important book for working mothers who want to stay home.

This is an important book for working mothers who want to stay home to raise their children. It is a scholarly, qualitative study of 350 women who left their jobs to raise their families. Sequencing is unique, I believe, for its feminist critical analysis of Western (particularly American) feminist theory. The author argues that the model of feminism made famous by women such as Betty Friedan is based on the male or "fatherhood" model of working outside the home, with children raised by a substitute caregiver. Her problem with this model is that it excludes and avoids addressing the special choices and needs of mothers of infants and young children, many (if not most) of whom feel a very strong desire to be with and nurture their offspring, full-time. But rather than hurling simplistic and reactionary insults at modern feminists, the author constructively contributes to the Nature vs. Nurture debate and contemporary feminist literature. I did feel, however, that Cardozo's analysis suffered from the same classism and racism as Western feminism generally. I found myself searching for examples of African-American women and poor women who took very real and consequential risks, who truly sacrificed every possibility of achieving the American Dream, in order to stay home with their children. I found one example: one young woman interviewed made a tormenting decision to raise her baby in a ghetto rather than ship her off to a relative or daycare provider while she worked outside the home. But even though the author paid lip service to poor women, I ultimately felt like this book was written mostly about and for white, middle class, college-educated women who give up professional careers--not poor women who sacrifice everything--to stay home and raise their children. I kept searching for inspiration from an example that spoke to my own needs and my own situation, and didn't find it. Although the book at least attempted to achieve class parity, which is more than a number of others written on this subject have done, its classism and racism left some holes that deserve better attention. Nevertheless, Sequencing offers a unique and titillating twist on the discussion of modern feminism and is extremely relevant for mothers of the '90s. I highly recommend it. Sharon Reilly (jdreilly@ntplx.net