At last - an honest and potentially explosive book for any woman whose work defines her and rewards her, who loves what she does but not how she does it.
In "When Work Doesn't Work Anymore", Elizabeth Perle McKenna given passionate voice to an issue that concerns every woman working today. With eloquence and candor, she exposes the unlivable bargain women have made in order to have meaningful work in a world whose rules are still designed to suit men. Consequently, no matter how high the rise in salaries or positions, women's stress and dissatisfaction are higher still. McKenna speaks with profound understanding and experience to the many of us who have come to the sobering conclusion: we love what we do but it just isn't working for us anymore.
In this groundbreaking book, McKenna gets to the very heart of an issue that is stirring up controversy among women and the media: that while doors have been opened to women in the workplace, a whole generation of women is asking where those doors are leading them. These women, who have won the right to work, are now being penalised by a system that accommodated their fathers very well: they had their wives at home to take care of the rest of life. Having bought into the traditional male definition of success - one that fails to integrate the realities of women's lives - women now see they must change the way they work or face divided and imbalanced lives.
McKenna's original research and hundreds of interviews tell a dramatic story of the hidden trade-offs, submerged values, and outdated premises that are wearing women down in the workplace. In this brilliant examination of our culture of achievement, she exposes the powerful forces that keep women stuck in the unfair and outdated choice between having success and having a life. She offers women a way to identify their own values, reclaim their identities, and define success on their own terms. Her book will help women reconstruct their lives in the middle of living them. It will be required reading for every working woman today who wants a full and rewarding life.
