Are you are a ‘career woman’ or a ‘woman with a career’?
That is a question commonly asked of women in modern-day society.
While the two may sound the same, they are completely different.
Does one have more positive impact than the other? Are there any negative implications with either one?
If you’re a woman reading this, perhaps these questions are swirling in your mind right now.
So, let’s start by breaking down the definition of a “career woman.”
According to Wikipedia, a career woman is:
“A woman whose main goal in life is to create a career for herself, rather than creating a family. These women can also be described as more interested in their career than in being married and having children.”
Women by far have surpassed men in the education and entrepreneur sector for the past decade, so the definition above is not surprising.
Statistics have indicated that U.S. women are on track to make up the majority of college-educated labor force in 2019, marking a historic turning point in gender parity.
In fact, women of color, particularly Black women, are more educated than their male companions, and are leading their households.
The career woman has all the surface level things that many admire and envy at the same time.
Psychologist, Rachel Vida MacLynn used this description of the career woman:
“She’s the woman other women love to admire and quietly applaud. The clothes are impeccably selected, the look is chic, effortless, and beautifully executed,” MacLynn said.“Gorgeous hair, magnificently manicured, casual or formal, she glides into a room and heads turn. A career woman is the triple threat, she’s smashed the glass ceiling and makes the married men on the board flirt with admiration. But she’s single, and alone.”
Some examples of who may be considered typical “career women” are — arguably — Oprah Winfrey, Tomi Lahren and Condoleezza Rice. Some feel these women have opted for successful careers over family and a husband.
Then there is a “woman with a career.”
This phrase is described as a woman who has a stable career or doing something she loves, but prioritizes family and/or husband over it.
These women have been said to have more success in life and love. In fact, if necessary, they would give up their ‘careers’ to keep a happy home.
Let’s look at Meghan Markle. Now, while many say it was a “no-brainer” that Markle would give it all up to marry a Prince, as she did, we need to point out that the actress was making solid, independent moves in her life since she was a young girl, way before she became a “royal.” And even after she and Prince Harry left Britain for a more stable life, you can see that Markle is making decisions for the betterment of her family, marriage and overall peace and sanity.
And what about those women who were born with it all, but are still coming up short?
In a documentary released late last year, “This is Paris,” business mogul Paris Hilton described how lonely she felt, even though she has more money and fame some couldn’t even dream of acquiring in a lifetime.
“In this film I really show who I truly am. Yes, traveling around the world and doing what I’ve done, it does get lonely sometimes because I’m constantly everywhere and I’ve been playing this character for so long,” the 38-year-old heiress to the billion-dollar Hilton dynasty shared.
She’s expressed her desire to start a family, and recently revealed in an interview that she has been undergoing IVF with her boyfriend in hopes of becoming pregnant.
As you can see, money and status guarantee nothing in life, and when it comes to women, we are expected to juggle the ups and downs with grace and a smile.
So Bayou Beat News readers, we ask you, can women have it all? The successful career with dominating positions, as well as a quality marriage and family? Or does one have to be traded in for the other?
Share your thoughts.
