I just love it when a person looking back on his or her own success talks about how others just don’t know how good they have it. People like this imply that somehow, nobody else works as hard as they do, or that their struggles were unique. As if others nowadays don’t work hard enough to try to get ahead. As if women still don’t face obstacles in getting hired. Promoted. Taken seriously. Here’s a female Wall Street Journal reporter who blames the decline of women in senior executive jobs on “complacent women.”
Now, I understand that she got into journalism, one of the toughest, most male-dominated industries there is, a few decades ago. So yes, she had obstacles to overcome. But that doesn’t diminish the efforts of women today who are struggling to advance in their careers. Don’t blame them for the continued hardships they face as they try to shatter the glass ceiling. Not to mention the increasing pressure — never mind the source, because in my opinion it comes from everywhere — for today’s women to have it all. Many of us are balancing careers and kids and husbands, managing households and myriad obligations.
In fact, check out this post from the Juggle about a working mother who feels so compelled to check her work e-mail that she brings her BlackBerry to the playground. She lets her work infringe on time with her son, but admits that she doesn’t usually let her family’s needs interrupt her work. Many of us may judge or disagree with what we perceive as her warped priorities, but I can understand her need to stay on top of things at work. That’s not complacent. That’s not taking things for granted.
