As young women exit college and enter the workforce, most of us are confronted with the challenges our futures hold as mothers and wives. We want to be the strong, independent, Prada- business-suit-wearing editors-in-chief/ceo/marketing genius' while juggling a perfect family and never missing a thing. Now thirty years from the third wave feminist push that led many women into offices around the country not as secretaries but as essential members, these women are looking back with some regrets. Will our fate be the same?
The last few years have seen a new group emerge among professional women; women close to retiring, unsatisfied with the return they've received for their decades of hard work. They entered the workforce as ground breakers being faced with opportunities no other generation had seen. They're leaving it as women with gaps in the history of their families and ultimately unfulfilled careers.
These women have been documented in Women Confidential: Midlife Women Explode the Myths of Having It All. Author Barbara Moses, Ph.D explains why this feeling is common among both men and women:
"Since the mid-'90s at least, employers have demanded more for less.
Competition for rewards - money, promotions, perks - has intensified,
and many men also feel their hard work has been undervalued and
underappreciated,"
Should we, the budding generation of women in business, be daunted by the tales of our mothers? These women's presence and prominence in every field has paved the way for us in careers no one would've ever dreamed off just thirty years ago. They changed an entire nation's perception on what women could and couldn't do in a relatively short period of time. Despite any feelings of inadequate success at the expense of life at home, they've changed our social situation more than we know.
I believe women can have it all. Maybe not by the time I retire, but by the time my daughters graduate. The advice of the former generation should be heeded; we can learn as much from their failures as from their successes. There is no perfect balance between work and home for the majority of women, but a more cooperative setting in both family (should women really have to bring in half the bread and cook dinner every night? Give and take, please) and career (80-hour work week and two or three kids? Yeah right) will lead to great strides in the quality of life for both men and women.
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