“Having it all” has always been one of those sayings that has followed women around since they pretty much joined the workforce. Some view it as a great goal, others think it is absolutely unattainable (hello Anne-Marie Slaughter), and some just think it is total BS.
According to a Wall Street Journal NBC News poll taken in April, 66 percent of women say it’s impossible for women to “have it all,” meaning both a successful professional life and family life. This number was down 11 percent from 1997 and, interestingly enough, there seems to be a divide on this when it comes to age. Among those 65 years old and over, 76 percent said they agree that a woman can “have it all,” the survey authors told The Huffington Post. Only 66 percent of those between 18 and 34 years old agreed.
Now, most of us are not titans of industry (yet!), legendary feminists, or famous actresses/entrepreneurs, but I think it is interesting to get their opinions on this famous saying. Yes, they may be rich and seem to have figured it out (this is pretty much why Marissa Mayer got a beatdown when she went back to work after the world’s shortest maternity leave), but I find their opinions to be very valuable and honest. Tina Fey said she even considered making her wonderful book Bossypants all about this (though it really was, in some ways). “I thought for a minute about calling the book Having It All: Love, Work, Jaw Pain,” she told InStyle recently. Here are some other famous women on the “Having it all” struggle.
Gloria Steinem, Feminist, writer, pacifist
Steinem, the mother of modern feminism, says one of the biggest problems for women today is that there is still this impossible standard that women are expected to live up to, to “have it all.” In March at a talk at the 92Y she said:
“It’s impossible for women to have it all, if they have to do it all. It is ridiculous! We tried to kill [that saying] off for years. It blames the person instead of the structure.”
Sarah Jessica Parker, Actress, producer, designer, mother of three
Back in 2011 when SJP was promoting her film, I Don’t Know How She Does It, which was all about a woman in a high-powered finance job being torn between what she thought was being a great mom and also a great employee, she spoke about the “having it all” struggle a lot. She said in an interview:
“The question is not only how you do it, but why? If you don’t have to juggle career, children, and husband for financial reasons, why choose to? The beauty of the times we live in is that we do have choices. For me, it has been hard to say no. I wanted a family and I was a career person. I tried to marry those two things; sometimes it’s successful and sometimes it’s not.”
Bethenny Frankel, Entrepreneur, Talk Show host, mother of one
In her book, A Place of Yes: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want Out of Life, Frankel wrote:
“No matter where you are right now, no matter far along you are on your own path, don’t wait to ‘have it all’ to celebrate. You’re never going to figure it all out. Make being happy your business, all along the way. Life can’t be one long, tough haul, with a little party at the end. What good is that? Life should be punctuated with celebrations and you have to build them into your time because being happy isn’t easy.”
See the rest of the story at Business Insider