The 4 women campaigning for the November election represent divergent political positions but they each are dealing with the same challenges as Sandwiched Boomers – struggling to balance work, personal needs, marital relationship, children and aging parents or in-laws. Of course, the one who has initiated the most discussion about balance between career and family is Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, Governor Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin symbolizes different things to different women. To some she is the ultimate ceiling breaker, the first woman on a Republican Vice Presidential ticket. To others, she embodies the ultimate contradiction between family values and personal ambition. Certain women are asking, can she adequately mother her five children while carrying on the national responsibilities required of a Vice-President. Those questions have not been raised when a father of five takes on enormous challenges in his work life, even today when fathers are more involved in the day to day lives of their children. Is this a double standard or justified by the reality of family needs? Do women face unique pulls when they become wives and mothers? Where are women to look now for their role models as they juggle career and family? What direction will the fight for women’s rights take now and in the future? Let us know your thoughts as move through this political season.

Tomorrow we will look at the issues raised by the wife of the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee, Jill Biden.