Can Women Entrepreneurs Have It All? by Gayle Goodman-Lynch
The idea of the “super woman” all sounded great for pop culture iconography, but the reality of it was somewhat different. If you are the child of one of these women, you saw first-hand how the demands of the office – especially the pressure of working twice as hard to be taken half as seriously as men – left our moms drained, discouraged, and working long hours. And their latchkey kids had to learn to figure things out for ourselves, because Mom had very little left to give at the end of each day. Not only were these women the mothers of Generation X, they were also the mothers of female executive burnout. The gift of this unintentional abandonment by burned-out moms is that the majority of Gen Xers learned exceptional self-reliance, which is likely why you find more entrepreneurs in our generation than in other generational cohorts. After all, we weren’t going to let “the man” tell us how to live life. We were going to run our own businesses and have the freedom to do things our own way. There was just one problem: our lack of maternal nurturing – which is so critical to feeling safe in the world and which forms a solid foundation of self-worth – was lacking. And we often find ourselves doing more and more, trying to reach that point where external validation of our worth is enough – but “enough” is always somewhere ahead of us, and we’re constantly catching up. But we’re strong, right? When we’re faced with our own collision course with burnout, we’ll just rub a little dirt on it, as Mom used to say. The idea of Wonder Women doing it all and having it all has been called out as a myth in recent years, as women, particularly women business owners, are increasingly suffering burnout. As a Gen X woman, I grew up at a time of great change for women in the workplace. In the 1980s and 90s, there emerged the idea of the “super woman” – the working mom who had it all together. She was the woman who somehow managed to do battle in the man’s world of business from 9-5, showing up looking the part in perfect hair, makeup and attire – all while effortlessly managing a household and raising children. The image of the 80s Power Mom was of a woman who did everything equally well, in perfect balance. And we young Gen X girls began to model our futures on this example.
“But we’re strong, right? When we’re faced with our own collision course with burnout, we’ll just rub a little dirt on it...”
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