Breaking Barriers at Home and Work: How Women Are Redefining Career and Motherhood

BY ARIANA TAVAKKOLI

Pursuing careers and motherhood are often thought to be a struggle to balance. Many times before women have felt the pressure of being forced to choose one. Nowadays we see more and more women pushing the boundaries of what they can achieve and setting an example for women worldwide that they are capable of anything they set their minds to.

Katie Chester is a history teacher at Sidwell Friends School. Her love for history began when she was just a kid. She grew up going on many historical trips as her parents always encouraged her education. During school having teachers who made history fun and interesting is part of what encouraged her to become a teacher. Due to these experiences, she always knew that she wanted history to remain a part of her life. Now that she’s a middle school teacher she finds it very rewarding when kids are engaged and excited to learn. As time passed she became a mom. Although this significantly changed the amount of time she had to work and parent, her true passion for her career motivated her to find a balance between the two. She mentions many times that one of the hardest parts is “trying to set the boundary between home and school while also thinking about what I would want my own kids' classes to look like.”

She talks about how although it is achievable, being a mom and a teacher is a lot harder than people realize. When she had her first daughter, finding the right equilibrium for her was frustrating, especially separating work hours from home hours. She ended up doing a lot of work at home because she felt as if there was never enough time. As things progressed she was able to “set a line and stick to it so that you can focus on your family when you need to.” Later on, she had her second child and again had to deal with the same challenges. Ms. Chester talks about how “Maternity leave can feel like putting yourself a step back.” Now that her two kids are a little bit older, she brings up how it can be hard to be present for her kids at school events because it’s during her school days, highlighting how the obstacles of being a working mom always seem to reappear no matter how much experience you might have. 

Although there are a lot of hurdles that come with being a teacher-mom, it is a learning experience that helps Ms. Chester to be a better teacher or parent. Being a parent better helps Ms. Chester understand the stress that students and parents might feel and allows her to be more sympathetic. Being a teacher, she also emphasizes the importance of education in her household and the preparation necessary for it. She also references the common misconception that “You can only be one or another or that there’s one right path for everyone.”

Katie Chester. Katie Chester.

She raises the idea that every family needs to do what’s best for them and that might not always mean juggling a job and motherhood. For her children, she wanted to set the example of having a career that she’s very proud of, but for others, a different example might be better. While Ms. Chester teaches history, she often sees parallels between the barriers women faced in history and the ones they face in the workplace today. “I feel like in teaching history or even talking about the future, I like to emphasize the struggles women have had and how recent certain rights have been granted. We can draw back on historical examples because although there are different challenges nowadays they are still important and ongoing,” she says.

She also advises: “Understand that having both a career that you are passionate about and a family is totally possible. You don’t have to make a choice, you just need to decide what’s best for you as there’s not one set formula. Also to remember if you do decide to pursue both that work will always be there but you should really enjoy your family.” She talks about how you’re always going to worry if you’re doing the right thing as a parent but eventually, things will all work out.

Ms. Chester is a role model in the classroom, at home, and to moms all around the world. Her journey demonstrates that it is not just about finding balance but testing the old-fashioned stereotypes that no longer fit today's realities. The strain between being a dedicated professional and a mother is very real but she continues to break barriers proving that women can do the same things that men can.