"The woman alone is self-oriented, she stands at the center of her universe. The words worry me; they have double meanings. “Self-oriented.” Self-respecting? Or just selfish? “Alone.” On my own, taking responsibility for myself? Or disconnected, cut off from others? I see two things at the same time when I think of aloneness for myself. On one hand, there is the freedom of it, the sense of choosing and being prepared to answer for one’s choices (given, yes, that all freedom is relative and all choices limited by culture, history, and circumstance). This sensation of self-reliance, of leading a self-created life, makes the present vivid; it is the high of being alone."
— Karen Durbin, “On Being a Woman Alone” (Village Voice, 1976)
(via theothernwa)
![Here’s an idea
theatlantic:
After Google Improved Maternity Leave, Post-Partum Attrition Dropped by 50%
Amid all the handwringing about what technology companies can do to recruit and retain women in their ranks, we don’t hear a lot of solutions. But here’s an obvious thing that tech companies can do: increase the length of maternity leave and pay a full salary for its duration.
Read more. [Image: Reuters]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9fj6mv5Oe1qcokc4o1_1280.jpg)
