So, the subject of our book is certainly in the air as of late. First, Ann Marie Slaughter, and now, a piece on The Daily Beast by Debora Spar, whose take on the issues of women chasing perfection, juggling roles and choices in a not-adequately-changed world was, frankly, so similar to the things we've written here and in our book, it took us a moment to realize it wasn't our byline on her piece.
Ahem.
Now that that's out of the way, as we noticed way back when we began writing Undecided in 2008, women today, blessed with the abundance of choices our mothers fought to get access to -- and our foremothers might have thought impossible -- are finding that this blessing is indeed mixed. That the messages on which we were raised, messages delivered with the best of intentions, have a flipside, as though delivered via an evil game of Telephone. Told we can have it all, we heard we must do it all. Told we can do anything, we heard that whatever we choose to do, it better be something good... and we better do it perfectly. We are told to be grateful for all the choices we have, and, of course, we are, but the one crucial message that never got sent was this: that every choice entails a trade-off. That we cannot be in two places at once. That, by definition (not to mention the basic laws of physics), if I am sitting here pounding out this piece right now, I am not taking my dog for a hike, meeting a friend for happy hour or cleaning out my closet as I've been meaning to do for weeks now. (Though, I am, as a matter of fact, simultaneously cooking dinner. And now my keyboard is getting sticky from the roasted garlic I just pulled out of the oven. Dear Multitasking: You suck.) There are only so many hours in the day. No one really clues us in to that one.
We set off, ready to conquer the world, as we believe we're supposed to. And then we realize that having it all is simply not possible. A high-flying career woman is not also a stay-at-home mom. A stay-at-home mom is not also a globe-trotting free spirit. A globe-trotting free spirit is not also putting down roots and paying down a mortgage. Every time we make a choice in favor of something, we are by default not choosing something else. But the rub is that we think it's only about us. That we're not good enough. That if only we were ___er, we'd be able to swing it. But that's a lie.
That the chorus is getting louder is good. Because there is so much that remains to be done. On the public policy and workplace fronts, yes, but in the way we talk to (and about) our sisters, our girlfriends and ourselves, as well. We need to do this in a way that doesn't diminish all that's come before and doesn't diminish what lies ahead. The world hasn't caught up to what we've been told -- that feminism's fight is over, the battles won -- policies and structures are still evolving. And we're still so very, very hard on ourselves. We worry we aren't measuring up, aren't successful enough or a good enough parent or pretty enough or in shape enough or organic enough. All while mired in the juggle!
As we wrote in Undecided, women today are experiencing a collective bout of growing pains. And one way to ease those pains is to give up the chase for perfect, the attempt to have it all, and focus instead on, well, finding the life that's right for us.