The Myth of Work-Life Balance: Can Women Truly Have It All?

What does Work-life Balance Mean?

Work-life balance refers to finding a balance between an individual’s personal and professional lives. The professional life encompasses everything related to their work, whether they are employed, freelancing or running their own business, while the personal life involves family and health matters.

It is typical for individuals to prioritise either their personal or professional lives. Overemphasise personal life may hinder professional advancement and neglecting personal life while pursuing a career is equally bad. Striking a healthy work-life balance enables one to lead an optimal life that promotes both health and professional fulfilment.

Put More Effort Into Embracing Your Entire Life

If you believe there should be a clear distinction between “work” and “life,” you are missing out on satisfaction. ITV presenter and TV show host Charlene White a mother of two, has stated that women should stop aiming for work-life balance to avoid feeling constantly guilty.

Charlene White,”A lot of parents, especially women are advised to prioritise work-life balance when in reality focusing too much on that leads to living in a perpetual state of guilt, I don’t think about work-life balance. I just do the best I can, every day.”

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Her remarks followed comments from Thasunda Brown Duckett, president and CEO of the Fortune 500 financial services company TIAA  who oversees the $45 billion financial firm stating that “work-life balance is a lie” and that she allocates 30% of her time to her children.

“If you live your life like a diversified portfolio, just like with your money, over time you will outperform. On any given day, I may not feel like I’m the best mommy. There are days I don’t feel like I’m a great CEO. But over time, I’m a really good mom. And over time, I believe that I’m doing a great job.”

Rachel Barton, who holds the position of managing director at Accenture, emphasised that the pursuit of work-life balance is currently more challenging due to increased pressure.She said, “The world is so short-termist and there is a culture of ‘I want things now’. People should give themselves less pressure over these short moments of time and instead, play the long game. Knowing what they’re trying to build and where they’re trying to go.”