"Your Wife Should Handle It": The Implicit Messages of the Family and Medical Leave Act

Abstract

In The Mommy Myth, Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels examine the heightened standards of motherhood that pervade modern American society. They contend that the media has perpetuated an ideal of motherhood that defines women in relation to their children and established a standard of motherhood that is impossible to achieve. This Book Review analyzes the Family and Medical Leave Act as a woman's first concrete interaction with the mommy myth, and asserts that instead of helping women balance work and family, the Family and Medical Leave Act perpetuates the mommy myth.