Coming Home Again

This article focuses on ways of negotiating and balancing work and family as identified by in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 women working as Mary Kay consultants. Areas such as detailed descriptions of work structures, how the women did their work, how they balanced their work and family demands on a daily basis, and their perceptions of how family obligations and gender influenced their choice of a job and their job experiences were investigated. Data revealed that women negotiate work and family using spatial, behavioral, temporal, social, and psychological strategies to manage internal and external temporal and spatial boundaries. Further research should continue to explore the interaction of work and family with other home-based self-employed occupations.