Democracy Dies in Darkness

Carolyn Hax: At dinner, a client’s wife wages asymmetrical mommy warfare

This mom didn’t know how to respond to attacks from a client’s wife on her decision to work outside the home.

(Illustration by Nick Galifianakis for The Washington Post)
Column by

Adapted from an online discussion.

Dear Carolyn: I am a middle-aged female professional; I work full time and attended a work dinner. I sat beside the wife of one of our clients, and she initially asked if I was married to one of my male colleagues. When I said no, she launched into an attack of me as a working mother and talked about how she quit her job so her kids weren’t brought up by nannies.

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