We cant pretend we are envious of Michelle Obama's lifestyle and the enormous changes she will have to navigate her family through in the coming years. Because lets face it when your husband is running the country and potentialy holds the future of world peace in his hands, you can hardly expect him to do his share of the school run!
Intelligent women who are married to high achieving men often don’t have it easy. What may have started out as a relationship based on equality and two successful careers, can often change when children come along. Before long, one partner's career is soaring and the other's lagging behind. As children’s needs tend to increase as they get older (in a more complicated emotional way) its often the women who puts aside their career aspirations to become the 'rock' that the whole family come to rely on.
Here at the Womens Room we have been lucky enough to have careers that have allowed us to work in a flexible way, spend time with our children and still enjoy what we do. But we can't pretend we don’t sometimes feel a little frustrated at our lost potential and think 'what if?' As we get older we increasingly find our bosses are either younger or the same age as us and it can sometimes be a bitter pill to swallow.
We are a generation of women who were brought up to to reach our potential, be equal and strive to have it all. But any women who has children and a job, will tell you there is no such thing as having it all. It seems we can have small bits of it, in lots of different ways, but we honestly cant think of one women we know who has managed a hugely successful career and a balanced family life. That is of course, unless she has a stay at home husband.
But we are willing to be proved wrong. Tell us if you know someone who has?
Read Andre Leon Talloy's interview with Michelle Obama in the March edition of American Vogue
