Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Womens Changing Lives
by By Fels, Anna
Category: Social Science , Womens Studies

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   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.