Two years ago, Salt Lake resident Heather Zang was touring with high-profile figure skaters and running the show as the skating sport manager at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Now, Zang has traded in her day planner for diapers and her prestigious title for one with a little less panache — Mom.
Zang, who worked for 10 years as an event director, put her career on hold after she gave birth to Alexander two years ago. With that choice came a transition from professional go-getter to stay-at-home mom. It's a transition that Zang and many other women are facing as more working women opt out of the rat race.
"I identified myself so much with my job and who I was professionally," Zang said. "Then suddenly, I'm just home and a mom."
Despite the initial shock of adjusting from a world of three-hour meetings to one of three-hour naps, Zang said she had to sacrifice her professional life to spend the time she wanted with her son.
That attitude is becoming more common among working women who are realizing that they can't always hold a baby in one hand while clutching the corporate ladder in the other, said Cheryl Wright, director of the Child and Family Development Center at the University of Utah.
"Women for a long time had the do-it-all mentality," Wright said. "We now realize that it is an incredibly hard thing to do."
That realization may be why the U.S. Department of Labor recorded a .7 percent drop in workplace participation by women with children under the age of 18 last year, bringing the total to 71.1 percent. Though seemingly slight, department economist Howard Hayghe said the decrease represents a significant alteration in the workplace.
The most noticeable change, Hayghe added, is a sharp decline in the number of working mothers with children younger than a year old. In 2003, the rate of such mothers in the work force dropped 2.4 points to 53.7 percent.
"Why this is occurring is something of a mystery," Hayghe said.
The increase in at-home moms with younger kids is in part attributable to the changing attitude of working mothers, Wright said. Having children is no longer viewed as the end of a career, but is rather seen as a temporary pause in work, she said.
Getting off the career path even temporarily, however, can mean difficult changes for women who have put years and energy into establishing themselves professionally. Zang, who plans to return to work once her son is in school, recalled how she had to adjust from rigid schedules to the irregular needs of a newborn.
"I went from working on a computer for eight hours a day to checking my e-mail once every three days," Zang said. "Now it's all feeding, changing, napping."
Perhaps even more difficult, Zang said, was trying to find her new identity and worth as a mother, not an event director.
"We're no longer playing in the Olympics. Now we're just working on solid foods," she said.
The loss of work identity can seriously affect self-esteem for at-home moms. Professional women suddenly find themselves sidelined as their husbands and other working friends continue to accomplish in their jobs. On top of that, Wright said many at-home moms often cringe when faced with the inevitable question, "So, what do you do?"
"Our culture sees staying at home with kids as an easy job, which is mind-boggling to me," Wright said. "The most important tasks — rocking the baby, care-giving, nursing — aren't going to end up on a to-do list. You have to let go of the standard accomplishment list."
Pam Pala, 35, took a detour off her career path as a construction management engineer when she had her daughter a year and a half ago. Pala said she was home for just a few weeks before she started to miss colleagues and adult interaction.
"I'm home all day with this little person who doesn't talk. I mean, you don't hear 'thank you,' " Pala said.
Fortunately, Pala found some camaraderie in the MOMS Club of Salt Lake, a chapter of a national organization that holds activities for stay-at-home moms and their children. The group, Pala said, introduced her to other mothers who were also craving conversation and friendship.
Though Pala has adjusted to her new role as mom, she said she still worries about what will happen when she's done with her pause in work and wants to get back on the career path. In the male-dominated field of construction, Pala said she worked for years to gain the respect of her colleagues. Now, she fears her time at home may cost her some of those career strides.
"I'll definitely have to start lower than when I left. It's frustrating," Pala said.
Heidi Hartmann, president of the National Institute for Women's Policy Research, said many women expect to leave their jobs and then pick up in the same spot many years later. But the work world does not readily accommodate such long absences and is also inflexible in offering mothers part-time jobs, Hartmann said.
While Hartmann said women are beginning to push for more part-time work while they have young children, she added that career opportunities will still lag behind those of full-time employees.
Melissia Niedermeyer, 31, was able to find the balance between part-time work and being a mom when she had her daughter, Ari, two years ago. Niedermeyer tried to work full time as an accountant for a year after Ari was born, but found herself stretched too thin between nine-hour days and a newborn.
The Salt Lake mom now works two days a week at the office, spending the rest of her time as a stay-at-home mom. Since the switch to part-time work, Niedermeyer said she has seen a change in her daughter's personality, as well as in their relationship.
"I could finally slow down, or even stop, and tune in to what she needs and what she's thinking," Niedermeyer said.
Walking the line between employment and stay-at-home responsibilities isn't easy, however.
E-mail: estewart@desnews.com