The Modern Woman's Search for Self-fulfilment

A modern woman would be defined as a woman holding on to a regular job and income. In the world today, more and more women are now untying their apron-strings and stepping out of the kitchen in order to work. Many of these women have now found self-fulfilment through a successful career.

A career can often help a woman in several ways. Many women feel a need to be useful not only to her family but to society as well. Along with this need is also the desire to believe in herself and her capabilities. As a result, many of these women turn to establishing a successful career as a solution. By holding on to a steady job, the modern woman feels needed and useful to society. It enhances her self-esteem as well as her confidence as a person. She thus finds fulfilment.

Many modern women prefer to work to retain their independence. They very much prefer earning their own income rather than surviving on "hand-outs" from a doting husband. By taking a job, the modern woman sheds her dependencies on other people.

A regular job is also a form of insurance to a woman. Many women have found themselves to be totally helpless and lost with the death of the sole breadwinner in the family, usually the husband. A housewife is dependent on her husband for her income and should something unfortunate happen to her spouse, it is extremely difficult and even traumatic for her to begin to eke out her own living when she has had no prior working experience. In cases like this, the modern woman is always ensured of a steady income which also adds as another stepping-stone towards self-fulfilment.

Another reason why women chose to work in the search of self-fulfilment is the need to prove oneself. The modern woman achieves a certain amount of satisfaction and fulfilment through working side by side with her male counterparts. The need to prove that she is on equal footing with any other male colleague is achieved thus enabling her to feel professionally fulfilled.

Although many modern women search for self-fulfilment through a successful career, there is a price to pay and along the road to success, these modern women would have lost something on the way.

In society today, many still face the issue of sexual discrimination. Although, it may not be obvious, discrimination comes in many subtle forms. Many modern women find that they are often paid less salary than a male counterpart who is holding the same post. This leads to a certain measure of frustration to the modern woman and that is perhaps one price she will have to pay along her search for self-fulfilment.

Another indignity the modern woman will have to surer is the threat of sexual harassment. Many working women have faced this problem. They have been forced to endure indignities such as caresses or even smacks on their rear from their bosses or sometimes even from their male counterparts. Although some women have brought their "tormentors" to court, the problem still exists and the humiliation of sexual harassment is another price modern women have to pay.

Perhaps the heaviest price that a modern woman must pay to attain self-fulfilment is the loss of her family. this I do not mean that the woman loses her family completely, but that she will lose out instead on the intimacies of a close family and husband and for this, the working woman suffers the most.

A job can easily come between a married couple. A woman's role is essentially to look after the home. The modern woman will not be able to find time to do so thoroughly and the job may cause her to neglect her home and her husband. Unless the couple is prepared to make sacrifices and to chip in with the housework, the marriage will disintegrate.

The modern woman also loses out on her role as a mother. Most women are basically maternal creatures and a career will mean that the working woman will have no time to start a family. The price she has to pay, therefore, will be the lost chance to experience motherhood and the joy of bringing up her child. If she already has a child, the modern woman also misses out on important quality time with her child. A child needs constant love and attention and the working mother will not be able to do so. She may entrust her child to a nanny or a maid but in doing so, stands to risk a close relationship she could have had with the child.

Thus, there are many reasons why women chose to establish a successful career in the search of self-fulfilment. However, there is a price to pay in the process. These women lose out on emotional bonding with the family and they do not realise that self-fulfilment can just as easily be found in the confines of her role as a mother.