Some experts have tried to explain these. Vicki Shotbolt, deputy chief executive of the National Family and Parenting Institute, said: “ The mothers of these women may have tried to juggle motherhood and careers, and it may have been the children who feel they lost out… I think women really are coming of age now and are accepting that it is almost impossible to have it all.”
The same sentiment is expressed by Margi Conklin, editor of New Women: “There has been a fundamental shift in young women’s attitudes towards life and work. They’ve watched their own mothers trying and then failing to ‘ have it all’ and have decided they don’t want it all. They don’t want to work crazy hours wile their children are put into nurseries and their relationships break up under the strain.” Young women today are increasingly putting their personal happiness before a big salary or high-powered career. Above everything else, they desire a balance between work and private life, so they can enjoy a satisfactory relationship, raise happy children, and have a job that interests them but doesn’t overwhelm them. The age of the “superwoman”, who wants to be the world’s best mother, wife and boss, is dead.