In reading this WSJ series on promoting women into the senior levels of business, government, and politics, a number of themes are jumping out at me. One thing that I've seen a number of these women reference when talking about how they got to where they did is a supportive husband that truly believes in a gender-equal relationship. That seems to mean that the husband takes on the child care and household duties as much as the wife does, when you really look at what these high-powered women are actually saying. I know that this is how I've been able to manage a successful career as a working mom... but my husband isn't in the military anymore, and he's got a fairly flexible job himself. I couldn't do what I do without having him as a full partner (or, if I'm really honest, more than a full partner in a lot of respects!) in the cooking/cleaning/errands/childcare duties rat race.

But if that's truly one of the tricks to managing a senior-level career as a working woman, how can military spouses handle a high-powered career along with the necessary demands of a military family life, especially with deployments or long/odd working hours for the military member? Is that challenge compounded by frequent moves and a lack of social support networks that many working women develop in their long-standing communities? Can you create other networks that allow for support of a working mom outside of a spouse? (Perhaps the military spouse community on base serves as that support community, since those relationships seem to form more quickly by necessity?!) Could the military or other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supporting the military help to put some of these options in place?

I'd be interested to see what people think... maybe it can help inform In Gear on where to focus our efforts, both in building these communities (if we can) or advocating for military or NGO involvement in supporting changes.