Today, 8th March, marks international women’s day and all over the world women are staging events and celebrations to highlight this signicant date.

In so many ways women have more options, opportunities, freedom of choice and equality than ever before. Women can and are achieving success in all areas now, no longer held back by the gender limitations of the past. It is also possible to enjoy a fulfilling career and have children too.

However, I sometimes wonder whether this freedom has given women too much choice, that idea that we can really have it all.

Listening to the radio this morning I heard a song called ‘I’m every woman’- I think it used to be the theme tune to Oprah. I started to think about this and wonder whether the need or perhaps desire to be ‘every woman’ has given some women far more stress than they can actually cope with. Now of course we don’t want to go back to the days of women feeling obliged to stay at home as the housewife. However, I do wonder whether the expectation for women to do it all has worked out positively in all cases.

I think we need to accept that yes, there may be some women who really thrive on a high powered career and a busy family life. Juggling those balls is their forte. But there are some of us who want to simply focus on one thing, whether that be building a successful business or being a stay at home mum, caring for a relative, doing voluntary work, being a student. Modern life is chaotic, that’s a given, sometimes women have no choice because they have to earn money to feed their children. It’s a question of economics. But I can’t help thinking that many women are just desperate for a more peaceful, simpler life.

But as women I think the important thing is to accept who we really are. We should not be swayed by society’s tendency to believe that a woman is not really worthy unless she has children, an interesting job, loads of friends and hobbies and on top of all of that has to look good too! There is so much pressure on women, particularly younger women to conform – mainly through social media – that this is leading to widespread mental health issues.

In my practice I have met some amazing, inspirational women and I am so grateful for that. Very often they will have overcome huge challenges, but do not give themselves any credit. They just ‘get on with it’ because it’s what they do.

I should also mention the incredible women who looked after my mum and dad in the last few years of their life. I owe these women so much.

You don’t have to be ‘every woman’. You can be one woman, an amazing one.

Best wishes,
Wendy x