The post by Michal Braverman Blumenstyk, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, about the meetup held at Microsoft with mothers on maternity leave, reminded me of my mother. She was the first career woman I met and inspired me for my career choices.
My mother was a lawyer. She held a senior position in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and as in many other things, she did it without apologizing for being a wife and mother. It was clear to her that she got off work at 4 PM or maximum, at 5. She came to all the gatherings that required the presence of the parents. I should note that my father, who used to arrive later every day, made sure to attend all these activities. My mother did not have a feminist agenda, although, in practice, she certainly met the criteria of being one. She mostly did what she loved and knew the world would work out with her choices. From this, I conclude that she was a “natural feminist.” I don’t know if such an expression exists or if I just made it out.
Why did this meeting at Microsoft remind me of my mother? Because these babies came with their mothers to work. And so I, as a little girl, not a baby, came to work with my mother. When? When she didn’t have an arrangement for her daughter during the school holidays, she still wanted to get to work. And since my mother treated it as a logical solution, everyone saw it that way, and even if someone raised an eyebrow, she did not respond.
What I described here was my world as a child, and only many years later, I realized that most families do not behave like this. As a child, I didn’t notice that most of my friends’ moms didn’t work or work part-time or chose a convenient job that won’t conflict with family. My mother did not work in a suitable position that enables raising children but created for herself what everyone calls today “work-life balance.”
This activity of a senior manager at Microsoft is so important! It is essential because, still, too many women give up their careers to raise children. My mother brought me to work with her 50 years ago (here, I easily revealed my age…). In these fifty years, there has been a change in the labor market, but not a satisfying one. I hope that in 20 years, most families will behave naturally around the balance between parenthood and career and will not need external change agents to show them the way. For this to happen, we need a lot of senior managers (not only women managers) who will sanctify this balance and encourage women to talk about it, do it and be an example to the children they are raising.
That is why it is crucial to stop talking about affirmative action but about agents of change who, within a few years, will create a new reality: the “new normal” of a balance between career and family. Such a balance will affect the ability of women to choose a career and the whole family to conduct themselves differently and be a new role models for future generations.

In the photo, my mother (very pregnant) receives the formal certificate as a lawyer.