Copied with permission from the Preface to the book Running for Office, Getting yourself elected to the career you really want by Mary Anne Gale with Shelley Cowan

Continued from Sharing Insight

When I was hired at Proctor & Gamble's Cheboygan, Michigan plant, I was the first woman with a college degree to fill a non-technical position. In making the job offer, the plant manager told me that, even though I came with excellent recommendations and a strong record of delivering results, my degree in retailing and my skills and employment experiences did not match the desired profile. He explained that he hired me because of my confidence in myself, and the way I came across as a person. He said, "I hired you because you gave me reason to believe you could do the work."

Submitted by Bruce Lundeby

Submitted by Bruce Lundeby

Submitted by Bruce Lundeby

​My mother is a teacher. She’s from a family of teachers. A family of teachers in spite of her father completing only the 4th grade. My mother expected to go to the one-year normal college teacher program and teach at a rural one-room schoolhouse. Instead, her high school counselor suggested she might attend the standard two-year program so she could be certified to teach in city schools. Mom was apprehensive about telling her father of the idea. But, when she did, he said “that sounds like a good idea”.

I’ve heard that story a more than a few times. In fact, it was told again just yesterday, as I’m visiting my mom at her retirement home.

When I was about 12, my mom’s two-year teaching degree was limiting some of her opportunities at work. So, she went back to college and completed a four-year degree. It was pretty cool to help dad with the preparations to celebrate her graduation. To help my father who never went to college.

Years later, I married a teacher myself. She reached a point in the path of her career where she was not really filling her potential. So, she went back to college to get a graduate degree enabling her to take a more specialized teaching role.

What was the cost to our children? We watched some cooking shows together as father and daughters and learned how to make reasonably good egg noodles, and pretty poor stir fry. We learned to make terrible doll clothes on the sewing machine, but pretty good ones from a circular knitting machine. Best of all, our daughters learned they can build a playhouse. A real playhouse / garden shed. I guess the cost was not too great.

If there was something missing from my childhood due to mom's time focused on work and university, I'm not aware of what it could be. Maybe my attitude of expecting to find my own food, and if someone else decides to cook what a blessing that is, rather than having an expectation of a hot meal ready for you.

My older daughter went back to college for a graduate degree after getting married so as to advance her career. My younger daughter is thinking about doing the same. 

​How much came out of a father encouraging a daughter to take on a more challenging career, and a husband and father encouraging a wife and mother to even further advance that career.

Submitted by Kathy Haselmaier

​When I started working many years ago, my career goal was simple; show that it was possible for a woman to work full time while raising children. Even back then, it seemed like a modest goal. The thing is, it wasn't easy. Ever. My husband also had a demanding career, so along the way there were challenges, frustrations, and stories that have only became funny in hindsight. But we pulled it off. One day at a time. 

While the goal may have sounded trivial, even back then, working parents know that the implementation of it was and is anything but trivial, even today.​ Some good news is that after our kids left for college I expected to feel the guilt I'd been warned about (because I worked full-time while raising them), but I felt contentment instead.

When we gather with friends, we gain strength and encouragement from the stories we share. Often it is the craziest and most hectic days we recall and laugh about. The daughter who cried for at least five days in a row when we picked her up from daycare. The inability to helicopter parent which resulted in my husband exclaiming, “What do you mean you have to memorize the Periodic Table of Elements by tomorrow morning?!” And the annual Halloween costume conversation which started with, “You can be any character hanging in this aisle [at Walmart].”

​For parents who are working and raising kids right now, I think it’s worth clearly stating that what you are doing is hard. And it’ll probably be worth it in the end. You’re showing your "village" that you value the education, upbringing, and guidance they provided. You're showing your employers that working parents can be strong contributors and leaders. You’re showing your kids that hard work is important, it isn’t always easy, and you’re giving them real opportunities to add value around the house which builds lasting self-esteem. You’re showing another generation of young parents what’s possible and hopefully helping them understand that both families and careers are worth the effort.

What you are doing matters.

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Originally Published: Jul 18, 2017 | Last Updated: May 10, 2018