Men Seeking Work/Life Balance - Now That's Newsworthy

This morning as I sipped my latte while reading the Wall Street Journal, something unusual caught my eye. On the front page of the Marketplace section there was a "teaser" for an article in that section. The teaser read,"Some busy lawyers ask a court for help in balancing work and family, B7" My first reaction was that it was a group of female lawyers who were tired of working 80 hour weeks and were trying to seek relief in the court system. As I flipped to the article on page B7 I realized that the article did not refer to women but men. A large bankruptcy case was scheduled for hearings immediately before and after Christmas. The plaintiffs' lawyers asked the court to reschedule the hearings because they fell smack dab in the middle of their children's winter school break. The reason cited was that it was one of the only times they get to see their kids.

What struck me as so interesting is that not only fathers would ask to reschedule a major legal hearing but also that the Wall Street Journal finds it newsworthy. We hear and read about women seeking to balance their home and work lives but it has been less common to hear about men asking for the same balance. I can't help but feel hopeful that this will further the cause of flexibility in the workplace.