And at the same time, if someone is a Mother (or even has the genitalia and gender expression associated with one) she can't be a Good Worker. I'm preaching to the choir, and really just said that to be able to give you a link to a new blog (http://newmodelmommy.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-is-born.html) on the subject. Despite that topic, it might've been more relevant to your previous gender-related post...The author is moved to Israel, volunteered for the army, got assigned as a secretary (she had a bachelor's from University of Chicago, which clearly meant that her talents were based used as a secretary for a higher-ranked man), nearly poisoned her C.O. with awful coffee in order to get reassigned (prison would've been a reassignment, too...), wound up as a combat medic., and said that the hardest part of that job was getting the soldiers with whom she worked not to see her as a Woman [in need of protection] but as a fellow [male] Soldier.

I think the holiday part of the Writers' Block prompt assumes that the people answering are middle class U.S.ians, for whom Family Time tends to be almost entirely at holidays. In the Israeli context where the bulk of Friday nights are Family Time "the holidays" has different connotations.