We’ve been blogging this week about Maureen Dowd’s New York Times piece, which claimed that women today are less happy than they were a generation ago. Many of our readers begged to differ, and today I have some more good news to report.

Last Friday, I had the privilege of speaking to a group of nurses at West Virginia University Hospital.  They were a lively, talkative bunch — all female, average age of 46. My topic was “Managing the Generational Divide,” and these Boomer women had a great time analyzing why Gen Xers (like me) can’t stand meetings and why Millennials (like my students) can’t stop texting.

Hollee facilitates a discussion on generations in the workplace

Then we discussed how to balance family and work, and I snuck in a quick survey.

Here’s the good news: When I asked whether nurses today were better equipped to balance work and life than nurses 20 years ago, almost 80 percent said yes!  That’s progress, as far as I’m concerned. Many pointed to flexible scheduling as a key to their happiness.  A few of their provocative comments:

• “Work is what we do, not who we are.”

• “We’re not afraid to say no.”

• “I see nurses today as more willing to put their personal lives first.”

• “We’ve learned how to manage time and prioritize what really needs to be done.”

• “We’re better off because the generations following us are putting more demands on employers to make it work (e.g., flexible scheduling).”

On the flip side, I asked about the obstacles to juggling a demanding nursing career with a satisfying home life. The factors that made it the hardest? Financial pressures that forced them to work more than desired (53 percent); a constant need to “be the best” at everything (33 percent); difficulty delegating (20 percent); and an inability to afford extra help at home (15 percent).

The 20 percent who didn’t feel so hot about their work/life balance made comments I’ve heard from women in many other professions:

• “The [biggest issue is the] feeling of guilt when you give-give-give to others all day at work and are too physically and mentally exhausted to give back to yourself and family.”

• “We don’t truly get away from work. We have access to work, and work has access to us, long after the end of the official work day.”

So where do you stand? Are the moms in your field better equipped to balance work and life than those who came before you? What makes work/life balance easier or harder in your chosen field?