As top women step aside, the notorious juggle is again in the spotlight

Three times in a week, departing women have highlighted the enduring conflict between work and motherhood for talented, mid-career women.

Chris Bath, of ABC Radio Sydney's Evenings presenter, left after three years, saying, "I need to find a job with hours more conducive to having my family recognise me"; Victorian MP Mary Wooldridge went after 13 years, naming "the impact on your family"; and a2 milk CEO Jayne Hrdlicka left after 17 months, saying the role clashed with "managing the health and wellness priorities of my family and me".

You could argue these women, and other heavy hitters who have stepped aside because they want to at least observe their kids' childhoods, are in a special category due to the extreme demands of their work.

Media and politics are notoriously time-greedy, as former politicians Kate Ellis and Kelly O'Dwyer, and the woman who had been widely expected to assume leadership of the federal Labor Party, Tanya Plibersek, would attest.

In some ways such heavy hitters are in an exceptionally hard spot (though, as the ABC's Annabel Crabb has noted, work/parenting tensions "do not seem to interfere unduly with the decisions of fathers") in many others they are dealing with the same issues as the next mother who wants to participate and provide, enjoy stimulating work and parent in a way they feel is a meaningful.

Despite policies that are pretty window dressing at large employers, the reality of 'the juggle' has, for many women, not grown any easier.

The words "when I thought about all the things that I would I miss, I just decided that it would make me quite miserable" (Kate Ellis), or "in composing photo books and looking at the special moments over the Christmas period I’ve seen how many I have missed and I know how many I will miss" (Kelly O'Dwyer), could have been spoken by many of us who have hit a fork in the road between treasured work and adored kids.

Despite a proliferation of policies that are pretty window dressing at large employers, the reality of "the juggle" has, for many women, not grown any easier. In many workplaces presenteeism may be discouraged officially but is still as rewarded as it ever was; and stigma around actually using flexibility options is as real as it ever was.

Mothers who take time to attend any of the million things schools now want you at often do so with hearts full of guilt and minds full of frustration that this is still primarily understood to be the mother's role.

As workforces, contract, part-time work, though an increasingly popular compromise for mothers according to fresh figures, often means being paid for three or four days but doing a full-time load.

And, much as workforce consultants would like us to believe it's increasingly fine for dads to work in a visibly more flexible way, workplaces in which men can really do that without consequence are still the cutting edge, not the norm.

When departing, or down-stepping high-achievers turn attention to the difficulties still being faced by the third generation of Australian mothers to enter work en masse, it gives us pause to reflect how far we have come – more women are reaching these heights – and how far we have to travel before working mothers are on a level playing field.