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Culture
There is no Superwoman
Western society sets women up for failure
I was brought up on a feminist diet of “women can have it all”, and for a while wholly believed it. I really did believe that I could have a high-flying career, have a family, and of course an awesome house to top it off. That image began to crack at medical school.
I was sitting in a clinic in a well-off part of London, and a beautiful lady with her newborn walked in. Her issue was minor, and soon the discussion turned to her and her new role as a mother. It turned out she was an opera singer and had a difficult decision to make: did she return to work and use all of her income to pay for child-care, or did she stay at home and therefore lose her career. Could she take a break and come back later? Not really, she said —roles were earned on the basis of the last performance and so it would be almost impossible to crack into the profession after one or two years away.
She said that she was fortunate to be in a position to make the choice based on her own desires — her husband earnt enough that she didn’t really need to work — and felt sorry for those forced back into the workforce and therefore missed out on their child’s development.
I heard this time and time again — working mothers with high-flying careers regret that…
