working mom

Moms who go back to the daily grind before their kids turn three won't see their children doing worse in terms of academics and behavior, according to a review of research spanning 50 years. That's great to hear, because it's one less thing mothers have to worry about when they return to work; their children will turn out fine, and maybe do even better in some cases. In fact, children of working moms who return to work before they are three years of age were rated by their teachers as higher achievers than their peers.

The results of these findings disprove the belief that a woman has to choose between a corner office and a happy home life, and I'm sure these CEO moms will be relieved to hear that. Actually, it seems like most of them already know that. "If you can compartmentalize, you can focus," Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz tells the WSJ about raising kids and juggling work. "You plan not to have guilt."

All the single ladies, all the single ladies . . . make more than men? Wages of single, childless women between the ages of 22 to 30 trumps men in the same age range, reports the Wall Street Journal and experts are predicting this to continue. This phenomenon is mainly brought about by the higher numbers of women attending college, leading to jobs with more earning potential. Around 32.7 percent of females aged 25 to 35 between 2006 and 2008 completed their undergraduate studies, according to the Census. This compares with 25.8 percent of men with bachelor's degrees.

But wait, hold on — the bad news is that women who have children are more likely to see their salaries dip or remain stagnant. Also, women still earn less than their male peers holding similar degrees. Not to worry, I think it's just a matter of time before women start catching up. So men, you don't have to put a ring on it, because we can buy our own!

Movies and TV shows featuring busy and glamorous working moms in high-powered jobs may make us feel like we can have it all. But according to Charlotte Hanna, a former VP at Goldman Sachs, she had to forfeit her career path once she had kids.

Hanna, who sued the company for discrimination last week, was pretty high up at Goldman Sachs before she became a mother, and her career seemed to be advancing rapidly. After her first maternity leave, when she chose to come back in a part-time role, Hanna says she felt like she was placed on a “mommy track,” where promotions and raises were no longer an option. She claims she was demoted, left out of meetings and operations, and generally made to feel unwanted. When she took a second maternity leave in 2008, she was told two weeks before returning to work that her position had been eliminated.

Apparently, some women on Wall Street feel that Hanna did this to herself — it’s common knowledge, they say, that you have to wait until later in life to have kids in order to preserve your career. Others say Hanna chose the "mommy track" willingly, and that everyone on Wall Street knows that’s the kiss of death.

What do you think? Does she have a case, or was she responsible for ruining her own career?