I found the story "The Confessions of a Woman Professor" to be particularly interesting because it discusses an issue that is very relevant today. The author of this story discusses how people are surprised by the combination of her femininity and her success as a professor. She opens up the story by telling the reader how much she loved to play with dolls and how even today she loves the sight of toys in shop windows at Christmas time and how to most poeple upon the realization of these qualities of hers are very surprised because she is so successful in her profession. I found this to be very relevant because women, by much of society, are expected to be one way or the other. Either they are successful and dedicated to their education and have little of a social or romantic life because work comes first. Or they are feminine, romantic, gossip loving women with little to no remarkable success in their work, generally depending on a male. The author of the story discusses how this poses an issue for women who want both success and a romantic life because men tend to be threatened by the success of their partners. I was very impressed by the way the author of this story balanced describing her love of her social and work life, not adhering to the above listed gender stereotypes of being one way or another.
Do you think that it is more difficult for a woman to balance a work and romantic life than it is for a man? Why or why not?
I definitely think that women have a harder time balancing it out. I think it's still seen as more normal for a guy to have a higher paying job for example, but if the woman had the higher paying job or was the sole breadwinner of the family, the man would probably feel a bit emasculated. Women have to find time for having children, and I think some people still look down on women that do things like go back to work and hire other people to watch infants for them and stuff like that. I think we've come a long way since the time that this story was written, but it's still an issue.
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