efined female success only in terms of being a wife and mother – have rendered it obsolete, at least in its original form and rhetoric.
Another phenomena which has affected the relationship between the sexes in the workplace is the fact that many women, in striving for equality with a male agenda, have recognized the future agenda must be shaped to include one that meets female needs and not just promotes equality with male ones. Women wanted it all but have discovered that means doing it all. In the process, they have come to understand the challenges and demands of having a career and family life. Today’s young women want a future where they can have it all, and, like men, not have to do it all. As one daughter of an executive mom relates, “When I grow up and come home from work, I just want to be able to sit. Watching my mom do all this stuff makes me tired” (Evans 1).
In fact, the media has begun portraying the modern woman as one who is exhausted from doing it all, so much so that she dreams of the 1950s in a nostalgic fashion, an era when a budget crisis was not enough grocery money and an important meeting meant the local PTA. Young woman today take the rights won for them by the hairy-legged, strident, feminist women of the 1960s and 1970s for granted. Today they expect to be treated equally, and, as such, many of them are realizing the advancement in equality does not come without trade-offs. These include things like long hours, little quality family time, and, often, having to sacrifice family for career. Of course, most of these women expect equal pay for equal work, day-care assistance, top positions and a harassment-free environment at work, with a husband who is willing to raise children and help with housework at home. Women are beginning to realize taking care of all the household and family concerns on top of working full-time is like working two jobs or a second shift. Instead of the ERA, you...