CMC Women in Real Life: The Work/Family Challenge

Claremont McKenna College March 24, 2007

A first-ever conference for CMC women (and men) of all ages, stages, and choices, exploring the ways we struggle for balance on the work/family spectrum.

About the Conference

CMC women in real life are awesome!

Over 150 people from all ages and stages of life, both men and women, came together on March 24th, 2007 to celebrate our lives, explore new directions, connect with old friends and meet new ones, and reflect on life's journey (so far). Participants shared their successes and frustrations in meeting the often conflicting demands of work and family. We learned from each other's stories about lives so full of opportunity that sometimes we were too tired to enjoy them. In the words of one CMC's most beloved professors, we shared ways to define and live "the good life."

There were high-powered attorneys, bankers, analysts and others at the top of their profession, some of whom decided to "go it alone" and others who were combining a demanding career with family care responsibilities. There were members of the sandwich generation, who are caring for aging and ill parents and children at the same time. Stay-at-home moms, who in fact are rarely at home despite this moniker, told about both the joys of being able to be with their children and, at least for some, the feeling that they were not "living up to the incredibly high expectations" for a CMC alumna. Others were divorced, widowed, in long and short-term relationships of all sorts, sometimes with partners that they would not have imagined spending their life with when they were students. Every story is unique, and everyone found others who are in similar situations. The shared camaraderie among this diverse group of people who, for at least one day, stopped to consider their life choices, was nothing short of amazing. One participant wrote in her evaluation that the conference "changed her life."

The day started with a warm welcome from Wendy (Dickstein) Verba '86, who was the heart of the conference. She saw a need to bring alumnae together so they could reconnect and redefine "life after CMC." Wendy's long-time and best friend, Laura (May) Grisolano '86, President of CMC's Alumni Association, welcomed all the women, whatever path through life they are traveling and the wonderful men who attended because they are also traveling through life, often with a matching set of excess baggage of traditional expectations. Pamela Gann, CMC's first woman president extended her greetings. The symbolism of having a woman president at what was originally an all-male school was not lost on the audience.