Some of our feminist friends are always saying that work life balance issues make life harder only for professional women. Thus it is both refreshing and edifying to see a prominent male politician airing some of his work life balance issues in public: yes, Rep. Paul Ryan is having a hard time deciding whether to lean in and run for Speaker of the House because of the responsibilities of fatherhood. He has young children.
Even as rumors swirled on Thursday night that Ryan was reconsidering, his colleagues said a major hurdle was strains that the notoriously rigorous job would place on Ryan's family.
“He’s got small kids. He’s a family guy. He goes home every weekend. And that job is really, really tough and very demanding,” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said.
“This is a job where you are expected to be on the road about a hundred days a year,” Ryan said in September. “Our kids are 10, 12 and 13, and I’m not going to do that.”
We don't know (at least as I am writing this morning) what Ryan's decision will be buthooray for Ryan. It is refreshing to see somebody in Washington animated by something other than raw ambition. It is also nice to be reminded that guys can have work life balance issues, too.