Why did Karoline Leavitt leave one of Washington’s most visible jobs for family life—and what does that reveal about elite work and motherhood?

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Karoline Leavitt left because she judged the White House press secretary job to be incompatible, for now, with the kind of mother she wants to be to two very young children. She has said the role demanded 60-plus hours a week, constant travel and being on call around the clock, and that after returning from maternity leave she felt she could not give both the job and her children the attention each required. Her move does not amount to a full withdrawal from public life. She has confirmed she will join Fox News as a contributor on November 1 and has continued occasional television appearances. That matters because it shows the real choice was not simply career versus family, but between one of Washington’s most consuming jobs and work with more control over time and location. What her decision reveals about elite work is that the highest-status jobs often still assume near-total availability. In politics especially, prestige is tied to unpredictability, travel, crisis response and long hours. Those conditions are difficult for any parent, but they often collide most sharply with the early years of motherhood, when children’s care is least flexible and the United States still provides limited paid leave and weak family supports compared with other wealthy countries. Leavitt’s comments also fit a broader pattern: women in high-pressure careers often do not “opt out” of ambition so much as recalibrate around structural limits. Her decision highlights a persistent reality of eli…

Karoline Leavitt Joins Fox News on Nov. 1 After Leaving 60-Plus-Hour White House Role

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Karoline Leavitt Joins Fox News on Nov. 1 After Leaving 60-Plus-Hour White House Role

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