Questioning, resisting, acquiescing, balancing: new mothers' career reentry strategies

As part of a larger study on the processes by which career-committed women experience the transitions in becoming new mothers and returning to their careers, I conducted 70 interviews with 35 participants across the trajectory of becoming pregnant, being pregnant, giving birth, taking time out from their careers, and reentering their careers. Using the constant-comparative method, I analyzed data from these interviews to discover a major process, Improvising Identities, supported by two subprocesses, Negotiating Relationships and Managing Practicalities. I report these women's strategies for negotiating their major relationships and managing the practicalities of career reentry, that is, improvising an identity as a career woman with a baby.