I have this theory about so-called super humans or wonder women. I suspect that some may indeed have extraordinary energy, drive and brilliance. However, the often less shared part of these extraordinarily accomplished and accomplishing women is that they usually have great resources and teams of people, at their disposal, to execute everything from the everyday grind items to supporting their many professional wonders. This is not a rant against such accomplished and high profile women; I admit I am often in awe of them.
Rather, for us more mortal appearing women, I felt moved to share the release of Barnard College President, Debora Spar’s new book Wonder Women: Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection. Ms. Spar suggests that the plethora of choices now available to educated women sets many of us up to believe the goal is to be Wonder Woman. She advises that instead of women aiming to lean in to everything in life, we should proactively choose to lean in to the most important things to each of us.
“We have opportunities today—to choose our educations, careers, spouses—that would’ve stunned our grandmothers. But now we’re dazed and confused by all the choices. Feminism was meant to remove a fixed set of expectations; instead, we now interpret it as a route to personal perfection. Because we can do anything, we feel as if we have to do everything.
In other words, women today face towering expectations: a pileup of the roles society’s long heaped on us, plus the opportunities feminism created. Every day I meet young women who dazzle me. But I also see the pressure they’re under. To be mothers and astrophysicists. Hard-bodied size 2s with perfect 4.0s. To be perfect. And these expectations aren’t limited to a few spheres of their lives. They’re everywhere.”
I would love your input. What do you think? Do you feel or have you felt the pressures of perfection in all the elements of your mix? How do you manage the towering societal expectations? Please share your thoughts or theories for debunking the Wonder Woman myth. Together, with the right tools and resources, we can all thrive in mixing work and life.
