Lean In? Opt Out? All I Know Is I’m Dizzy by Kim Siegal
“The problem is, many of us are taught we can have it all. Work full-time, part-time, stay at home, work at home, freelance, become a momtrepreneur. The choice and the world is yours. It’s the quintessentially American middle-class meritocratic ethos accelerated by the gains of feminism. We have choice, we have freedom, we are women hear us… um… perseverate about every big parenting decision we henceforth make.
This is the paradox of choice. Too many options can sometimes just be simply disorienting….
With all this choice has NOT come any real guidance. No playbook or manifesto or even philosophy, only hollow catch phrases telling us to just “lean in” and a rewarding career awaits or “opt out” with the implication that choosing to stay at home is a bold feminist reclamation of motherhood, but nothing of the heart-wrenching trade-offs or how to achieve a balanced life in modern motherhood….”
