ABSTRACT
At middle motherhood women face the problem of how to reconcile the role of mother with that of productive worker. In early motherhood the weight of maternal responsibilities was heavier; in middle motherhood it has become attenuated, especially when the children reach adolescence. By the time enough of them had voted with their feet so that the ratio between working and nonworking women in middle motherhood approached equality, the temper of popular discussion of women's place began to change. Closely related to all aspects of the identity crisis of middle motherhood is the decision to participate or not to participate in the labor force. Although women in professional and managerial careers constitute a relatively small proportion of the entire female labor force—about a fifth—they have been the subject of a disproportionate amount of research. The role of mother vies-a-vies an adolescent daughter is rendered especially sensitive because it has been traditionally the mother's obligation to protect a daughter's virginity.
