But in truth, I was torturing myself." 但说实话，我完全是在折磨自己。”

With the birth of her second child, Amy adjusted her behavior. 生第二个孩子时，她做了些调整。

"I took three months off and handled my return to work in my own way, on my own terms. “我休了3个月的假，用我自己的方式、根据自己的条件重新处理工作。

And despite what I had previously feared, my reputation and productivity weren't hurt a bit." 尽管之前有担心，但我的声誉和效率并没受到一点儿影响。”

I deeply understand the fear of appearing to be putting our families above our careers. 我深深地理解那种担心别人认为自己是把家庭凌驾在事业之上的女强人的心理。

Mothers don't want to be perceived as less dedicated to their jobs than men or women without family responsibilities. 任何一位母亲都希望别人认为，她们对家庭的投入远大于对工作的投入，结果出于一种补偿心理，

We overwork to overcompensate. 以致她们工作也过了头。

Even in workplaces that offer reduced or flextime arrangements, 即使在那些对工作时间要求并不严格或是非常灵活的公司，

people fear that reducing their hours will jeopardize their career prospects. 女性也担心减少工作时间会危及事业前景。

And this is not just a perception problem. 而且，这个问题并不只是出于她们的感觉。

Employees who make use of flexible work policies are often penalized and seen as less committed than their peers. 灵活工作时间政策下的员工常常会在薪酬上付出代价，而且会被认为不如其他人热爱工作。

And those penalties can be greater for mothers in professional jobs. 对于职场里的母亲们来说，这种代价会更大。

This all needs to change, especially since new evidence suggests working from home might actually be more productive in certain cases. 情况需要改变，尤其已有证据表明，在某些情况下在家办公更有效率。

It is difficult to distinguish between the aspects of a job that are truly necessary and those that are not. 我们很难判断工作中有哪些条件是真正必要的。

Sometimes the situation is hard to read and the lines are hard to draw. 这些情况很难分辨，也很难设定界限。

Amy told me about a conference dinner she attended with a group of fellow physicians, 埃米告诉我，有一次她参加一个会议晚宴，

including one who had given birth to her first child several weeks earlier. 同行的同事中有一位几周前刚生完孩子。