"Partner Advises Women Law Grads to Value Adversity, Get Real About Balance"
Andrews Kurth partner Kathleen Wu wishes someone would have told her at her law school graduation in 1985 to get real about work-life balance.
It’s possible to have work and a family, Wu advises women law grads in a Texas Lawyer article. But there will be sacrifices.
“Recent grads shouldn't get their hearts set on ‘having it all,’ " Wu says. “The practice of law is demanding—exceedingly so. It is next to impossible to balance a full-time legal career with marriage, children and regular trips to the gym. It's no coincidence that the two women most recently nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court—now-Justice Sonia Sotomayor and nominee/U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan—are unmarried and childless.”
Wu also advises women to trumpet their career successes—a practice that can come in handy at bonus time. She also says grads should be grateful about graduating in a bad economy because it will teach creativity and resilience that can pay off in later years.
My thoughts: Although it seems like this is realistic and logical advice I still find this a tough pill to swallow. Disney sold me a dream that I could have children, a successful career and a loving husband who spoiled me rotten. I am a princess darnit! Ok enough dreaming. The further up the corporate ladder I go the more I hear that "having it all" is simply a dream. Women are often forced to choose between work and family. We feel guilty when we have to choose.
I hear things like:
Women with children dont make partner as often as childless women.
Pregnant women are more likely to get fired.
Women with aspirations to have a work-life balance are in for a shocking disappointment.
There is no such thing as a work-life balance.
You must choose to either work to live or live to work.
What say you? What is your perspective of what it means to "have it all"? Is it possible to have it all? Feel free to share your stories of lawyer women who have it all....
2 comments:
I still believe through God all things are possible. It’s not impossible to have it all, it may be more difficult. I am sure if you have the right mate and support you can make it work. Our roles as woman have not changed; we still have a job to do. Raising children, having a family, and taking care of our spouse and homes are all part of that. There is balance, we just have to find it and apply it. I am not giving up on this dream of having a successful career and a family. It may mean not making partner, but I content with that.
Thanks for stopping by Martine!!
I agree. We all have to set our own goals. We define our own success. If you do not aim to make partner then it is fine if you dont. My issue is with women who aim to make partner but fall short because of issues with struggling to strike a work-life balance. I understand that we all make sacrifices but in many work places you are informally penalized for the work you may miss because of a family emergency. I have decided to put off starting a family until I have my foot in the door but even doing this has become a conundrum for me. Why should I wait? I am one who wants to "have it all" but the more successful women I meet who do not even have half of "it" I become more discouraged.
I digress. I too believe with God all things are possible so I will pray on it.
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