Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Women's Changing Lives
Search in google:
Despite the huge advances women have made in recent decades, their ambitions are still undermined in subtle ways. Parents, teachers, bosses, and institutions all give less encouragement to women than men, and women still grow up believing that they must defer to men in order be seen as feminine. If their ambition does survive into adulthood, too often those ambitions must be downsized or abandoned to accommodate “wifely” duties of household chores and child care. As a result, women—unlike men–continually have to re-shape their goals and expectations.Yet expressing ambition, pursuing it, and getting recognition for one’s accomplishments is critical to identity and happiness. In this groundbreaking work, Anna Fels draws on extensive research and years of her psychiatriac practice to offer an original and deeply useful examination of ambition in women’s lives. In the process, she illuminates just what is necessary for women to articulate—and fulfill—their dreams. The Washington Post - Jennifer Howard What distinguishes Fels's book from other feminist laments is the case it makes for ambition as a basic human impulse, even a need.
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1What Is Ambition?32Distorted Ambitions193Avoiding Attention354Femininity475Why Is Recognition So Important for Ambition?726Unequal Rewards997Pseudo-Recognition: Historical and Contemporary1068Parents, Mentors, Institutions, and Peers1189Developing Skills14110Combining Femininity and Mastery16211The Current Dilemma20112Careers20513Marriage22014Children and Careers237Conclusion252Notes257Index281
