Women Will Never Be the Same as Men
And they honestly need to even stop trying
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I was talking to a friend from grad school over the weekend.
We are both in the finance, or more specifically, the investment banking industry.
We were talking about my upcoming parental leave and how I was lucky to get a full 20 weeks to spend with my family, even as a dad.
I mentioned how I planned to take the full 20 weeks and not forego a single day as this was more important than anything else.
My ex-colleague and friend (who is much older with kids in his twenties) mocked – “huh! what do you need so long for?”
I chose not to go down the debate, as I choose to stay away from this line of thinking, highlighted in more detail here.
Amidst this discussion, he brought up a certain person. “You know, she is the real legendary star.”
I didn’t know of this woman, so I enquired what made her so special.
“Well, she gave birth to twins on a Saturday and was back on client calls by Monday. And here you are taking 20 weeks as a dad who isn’t even giving birth.”
That woman isn’t the idol the world needs
Which mother would “want” to get back to work with two newborns needing her full care and attention?
Which mother would want to put her mind and body through professional stress after having gone through 40 weeks of carrying two lives inside of her and then going through the grueling process of birth?
A warrior and a real legend– yes, but not by choice.
I don’t blame the woman at all – in a hyper-competitive male-dominated work environment where people pride themselves in putting work over everything else, she is just an ambitious woman trying to keep up.
Studies have revealed that around 50% of the women who took maternity leave felt like it had some form of a negative impact on their careers. There have been other studies that indicate that long maternity leaves taken by women make them perceived as less desirable by employers.
