Stiletto Network

Otherhood, Not Motherhood

For occasional bonding trips, segregation might make sense. But on a day-to-day basis, men and women need to mix and, as Karen White says, prepare to play on coed teams. It’s happening, as more boys are raised by mothers who work (yet are still involved and loving), as men strive to create opportunities for their daughters, as husbands slowly increase their share of duties at home, and as boys and girls collaborate in school. Men and women are starting, just now, to meet in the middle.

“In the ‘80s, people thought women were not rising to the top because they wanted to be mothers. The joke was that a lot of women denied senior slots were not mothers,” says Edie Weiner, the futurist. “It was never about motherhood, and ...