Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Women's Changing Lives

by Anna Fels

Description

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 show more 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. show less

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kellyholmes 639 reviews

An interesting discussion of ambition in women's lives and careers. For a nonfiction book, it was a very easy read. The author makes some great points, one of which is that recognition for a job well done is a basic human need.

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