Women with children work; sometimes with the support of husbands or partners, sometimes without.

This remarkable fact has been around for at least two generations now. And the sky didn't fall in. Children grew up reasonably well-rounded, whether they were latch-key kids or not.

Times have changed: we have a female Governor-General, women leaders of Parliament, the law, business; across all spectrums. And there are grandmothers with daughters who also work.

Yes, it's a juggle, and life has sped up more than most people would like. But why are we still sniping about a woman's role?

And the shots come from out of nowhere: author Mem Fox last week bluntly stated child care was a form of child abuse. Quite a shock to the parents of the 11,000 children under one year of age who were in child care in 2005 (Australian Bureau of Statistics).

Further back, debate raged in Canberra when Liberal MLA Jacquie Burke accused Health Minister Katy Gallagher of being a ''part-time minister'' because she brought her six-week-old baby to the office while she was breastfeeding.

On Friday, there was instant cynicism over the new NSW Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt and her vow to spend more time with her family after she resigned from the ministry last year.

But perhaps most vicious in the past week has been the reaction to Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Reports coming out of the United States have dubbed it the ''mummy wars''. The Alaska governor has sparked commentary on blogs and television where male and female alike have questioned whether the mother of five which includes a pregnant 17-year-old and a four-month-old child with Down syndrome should be running for vice-president.

Perhaps much of the news commentary on her family circumstances has been provoked by the implied hypocrisy of her main support base: the evangelical right, conservatives, anti-abortionists and the gun lobby.

But whether people support her politics, whether they admire her straight talking, or her gun-toting, moose-eating reputation, we still continue to bicker over the tired working mother dilemma.

Interestingly, no one comments on the unfavourable light these criticisms cast on the parenting skills of Mr Palin.

With Father's Day being celebrated today perhaps more people should be standing up for the man at home. Without taking away from the Day, it is interesting to note that rarely is a father criticised for going to work.