Having It All?

Can women really have it all? Women today feel under pressure - from films, TV, magazines - to be great at everything they touch.
Taking a fresh look at this idea of the modern Superwoman - fascinating career, model family, hectic social life - Paula Nicolson unravels the unattainable myth from workaday reality and so helps women take back control of their lives. Using self-tests to aid decision-making and identify areas of stress and anxiety, Having It All? prompts women to ask themselves the right questions about their lives and examine the choices they face in order to learn what is really important.
Having It All? takes you off the treadmill and helps you find your ways to win!

About the author. Acknowledgements. Introduction: Who should read this book, and why? 1 Making Choices. Choices for todaya s Superwoman. Todaya s Superwoman. Identifying the pressures: what we want, what we dona t want. Exposing the myth of Superwoman. Being true to yourself: making your own choices. 2 The Superwoman Syndrome. The heart of womena s psychology? Historical background. Womena s minds and womena s lives. Who is a Superwoman? The history of todaya s Superwoman. a Superwoman Quits!!!a -- reasoned withdrawal or backlash politics? The heart and mind of Superwoman. What women want. Controlling womena s bodies and minds. Superwoman rising from the ashes. Conclusions. 3 Psychological survival and managing your a self a . The psychodynamic approach. Presenting your self. Choice and preference: clues to our self--awareness. What do we need? What do we want? Fulfilment and health. Self--actualisation and psychological type. Superwomen, choices and having it all. I know who I am. What have feelings got to do with it? Mind the gap! Self--fulfilment and the emergence of our personal Superwoman. What others do to you. Being confident in adversity. Conclusions. 4 Myth, magic or just hard work. What type of Superwoman are you?: Are you sure you should be doing this? Describing Superwoman. Real and false choices. Beware of the false self. The real self: understanding our drives. What about Superwoman? What kind of Superwoman are you? But really -- who are you? 5 The rise of Superwoman From fear of success to emotional intelligence Womena s motives at work. Fear of success: the myth of the passive woman? Femininity and passivity: womena s natural self? Different bodies, different minds. Freud and femininity. Biology, genes, brains and gender. From different psychologies to better psychologies. Emotional intelligence and female natures: are we the winners now? Emotional competence. Conclusions. 6 It is still a mana s world! Having it all at work: Having it all -- at work. Real womena s lives. Conflicts at work: challenges to having it all. Beware of hazards. Mapping the territory. Barriers to success and the downfall of a Queen Bee. Overcoming internal barriers. Overcoming external barriers. Conclusions. 7 Motherhood versus the glittering career. Coping with the backlash Lifestyle choices for Superwoman. Expectations versus reality: what do you do when the baby arrives? You can still find a pathway to success! The emancipation of mothers: an oxymoron! The role of fathers in the lifestyle choice. Superwoman and the backlash against feminism. Conclusions: You dona t need to do it all and you dona t need to lose it all! 8 Coping with stress. Superwoman says a no!a Juggle dona t struggle! Stress and Superwoman. Recognising stress in our lives. How to cope with stress. Breaking the stress/burn--out cycle? Assertiveness -- saying a noa . Conclusions. 9 Challenging choices. Working with what youa ve got!: So who has problems now? Women joining in. Choices for todaya s Superwoman. Further information. Notes and references. Index.