In the decades that followed, the feminist movement redefined employment for women as a ticket to independence and fulfillment, and a “revolution in women’s economic status” took place in the United States, as the Harvard economist Claudia Goldin writes. But American politics lagged far behind. It took nine attempts, and Bill Clinton’s election, to enact the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993, granting many employees the right to take 12 (unpaid) weeks off to care for a new child or a sick family member. But the “working mother” label could still be a scarlet letter. When Marcia Clark led the prosecution of O.J. Simpson, she was in the middle of a custody battle over her two young sons. Simpson’s lawyer Johnnie Cochran accused her of strategic delay when she said she couldn’t stay for a late court session one night, while her estranged husband filed papers claiming that her long workdays hurt their children. Clark felt compelled to issue a statement: “I am devoted to my two children, who are far and away more important to me than anything.”

Today the arguments about working mothers that persisted into the 1990s feel as dated as the era’s shoulder pads. As do the mommy wars that pitted stay-at-home and working mothers against each other, especially over how to raise children. Only 35 percent of Americans now agree that a “pre-school-age child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works,” a big drop since the question was asked in 1985. Indeed, the upshot of dozens of studies, conducted over the past 50 years, is that in general, children whose mothers worked when they were young did not have significant problems with learning or behavior. In fact, they’ve tended to do well in school and experience relatively low levels of depression and anxiety. So much for the “stunted emotional growth” that Mike Pence, Trump’s choice for vice president, said in 1997 that he saw in children with two working parents. In September, Pence disavowed that view on “Face the Nation.” “We’ve all had changing attitudes about this,” he said.

Perhaps his conversion has something to do with the ascent of conservative stars like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann (who fostered 23 children), who became political celebrities by refusing to follow their party’s prescriptions. They helped create a new ideal: the Supermom who has it all and does it all. Before giving the Republican response to Barack Obama’s 2014 State of the Union address, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a U.S. representative from Washington who has given birth to three children while serving in Congress, posted a photo of herself on social media holding a copy of her speech with her 2-month-old daughter in her lap. The caption read: “It really doesn’t get much better than this!” There’s no babysitter, or dad, in sight.

Like most Instagram posts, the image cropped out a lot. Supermoms can’t operate without a superstructure of support, which makes their status as out of reach for low-income or single mothers as the housewife role once was. Even attainable versions of working parenthood require constant attention to domestic arrangements, frequently rearranged as kids grow up or elderly relatives falter. Caregivers make the lives of two-earner couples and single mothers possible, and they don’t always themselves earn a living wage.

Today, serious discussions about all of this — paid leave and sick days, flexible work schedules, affordable child care and equal pay for women — are typically, and strategically, framed not just in terms of working mothers but of “working families.” “When these issues were regarded as only women’s issues, they were on the back burner,” the Connecticut congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, sponsor of a bill that closely tracks Clinton’s proposals for paid leave, points out.

The shift to “working families” also acknowledges the increasing role fathers play at home as well as the economic pressures on the family as a unit. The culture wars cast the debate over whether mothers should work in terms of personal choice. But for years now, it has more often been a necessity: Many families rely on two incomes to stay afloat, let alone prosper, and single mothers lost most of their access to welfare back when conservatives preferred stay-at-home motherhood for everyone else. About 70 percent of mothers in the United States now work full or part time. If motherhood unnecessarily diminishes women’s earning power or potential for promotion, or if child care costs a small fortune, it’s not just career aspirations that suffer. Contending with these challenges requires far more effort, and imagination, than an offer of a few blocks and toys.