The assumption, for much of human history, that women would busy themselves with one source of joy [like mother-hood] and not the other [like work] meant that it took some time for women like Midge to find their voices. That those of us who actively choose the demands of family life do so with the full understanding that we must balance the cultivation of our own voices with the cacophony of the voices we nurture at home does not make that balance any easier. To distance oneself from a “terrible mom” like Midge is to pretend that deriving joy from our children does not, at some point or another, come at the expense of our own professional and creative endeavors. To criticize Midge’s parenting just when she is finding her voice is to miss the point of the show entirely.

SARA FREDMAN weighs in on Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on the Lilith Blog