Drawing on focus groups and interviews with thirty women who combine motherhood with paid work in Ireland, this book exposes the difficulties, complexities and dilemmas women experience and reveals that there is a complex system of inequality which occurs when women combine motherhood with paid work. These inequalities occur at individual, discursive, social and structural levels and their combination makes it difficult for women to satisfy working and mothering lives. Contemporary society uses maternity to divide and conquer women, both in public and private spheres, and women's inequalities are maintained because the issue is privatized, women are silenced and ignored. This book looks at the gender system which creates this complex inequality and reveals that by privileging some women sometimes, enduring inequalities are created for all women.