I am in awe of women who have full family lives and seem to work round the clock in the 24/7 news cycle.

The work I do when I'm not making music is very much about service, helping women give birth or aiding in family planning.

I come from a family of working women, my mum went to work two weeks after I was born - my parents had no money, there was no choice.

I'm so glad that my profession helps me find a balance. I have the luxury to choose between my work and my family. Many women don't. I thank my stars for whatever I have.

I don't mind talking about my family and how to balance it all. But, in today's world, we should probably be asking both women and men about work and family and how to balance the two.

Women in America will have to find an answer for the pressures of work and family, but if you really care about women's issues you have to think about women in the world, especially Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

My mother has been a wonderful model for the professional woman - a loving mother dedicated to both her family and her work. She inspired me, made me proud, and developed in me an enormous respect for women in general.

I work in areas related to child protection and family safety, women's empowerment, the creation of opportunities for youth, and culture and tourism. Daunting? Yes. Impossible? No. In fact, such challenges energize me.

On the campaign, I've had the privilege of advocating for important issues that affect all women, like demanding equal pay for equal work, pushing to raise our minimum wage, and promoting the idea of paid family leave.

As long as working women also have to do the work of child and family care at home, they will have two jobs instead of one. Perhaps more important, children will grow up thinking that only women can be loving and nurturing, and men cannot.

I'm not saying that if you're working at home, raising a family, that's not work. I want to disrupt the narrative around what it means to be a woman who works. The whole point of my brand is that women should be architecting the lives they want to live.

For many of us, especially women, the gap between what we want or need and what our society expects of us is wide indeed, and we spend out lives trying to negotiate it. Trying to balance work and family, responsibilities and desires, all that stuff. It is not easy.

Most women who work and have a career and a family sympathise with one another because they know just how difficult it is to try and manage it all and sometimes if the pressure's too great and you can't manage something has to give and it's either your career or your family.

I grew up in a family of strong women and I owe any capacity I have to understand women to my mother and big sister. They taught me to respect women in a way where I've always felt a strong emotional connection to women, which has also helped me in the way I approach my work as an actor.

Neither man nor woman is perfect or complete without the other. Thus, no marriage or family, no ward or stake is likely to reach its full potential until husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, men and women work together in unity of purpose, respecting and relying upon each other's strengths.

How can we say we're for family values when so many women in the United States have to jeopardize their livelihood to take a few weeks off from work after giving birth? Should a man have to sacrifice his economic security to take care of his sick mother or his wife returning wounded from active duty?

I just think that there's so much judgment in the world, whether it's coming from women in general or from men onto women - it's a lot. And when it comes to being a mom, I wish everyone could band together and realize that everyone has different beliefs, different styles, and different things that work for them and their family.

Women are the majority of immigrants yet the minority of immigrant employment visas; immigrant and native born women who work in the service arena - such as domestic workers - are not valued for their work, making pennies on the dollar compared to male counterparts; and, women are disproportionately affected by family reunification policies.

Share This Page