Week 5 - book

One of the chapter titles, "Make your partner a real partner" is a very interesting chapter. Even though I don't have to think about marriage for a while. It is interesting to hear her perspective on how to balance home and work life. Sheryl Sandberg talks about her personal struggle of trying to balance being at home for her kids and to be at work and how during the beginning it was hard to balance things because her husband was away for work most of the time. 

She also talks about a study at Harvard Business school a professor asked about what men can do to advance women's leadership? The professor said to do "The Laundry" like do the mundane household tasks like buy groceries, wash the dishes, etc. I think that this is important because men should take more of an initiative to do these tasks.

She also says that the most important decision for a career women is to choose a life partner and who that person will be. Which sounds logical and simple but when you think about it there are a lot of aspects in choosing the right person. Obviously you want to choose someone who would support you in all your career decisions. She also quotes many married female CEOs that said they couldn't make it without the support of their husband, helping the children and their willingness to move. 

Personally when people ask me if I want to get married in the future (which is a long time from now) I usually say no. Mostly because if I say yes, people ask if I am in a relationship, when I plan to get married, etc, Actually mostly my grandmother on my dad's side asks this but I still don't want to think about these things. I want to concentrate on myself and my own future not about settling down. I am too young for that and I have so much more to explore in the world before I start to even think about it. So I say no, even though I do say yes in my mind. I don't want to be held back by the expectation of dropping everything and taking care of a kid(s) in the future. 

Also I feel like when girls are young the expectation that is put on them is to grow up and get married. I just don't promote that. I think a girl needs to figure out what she likes and wants to be when she grows up and a marriage can come later. Because there isn't enough women in many fields like STEM. As a woman I want to break the glass ceiling and I hope to encourage many young girls to aim high and never stop trying. As cliche as that sounds, young girls just can't stop fighting. Also I have heard from one of my french teachers that Ms. Gurry (a french teacher at BHS) wanted to be a pediatrician when she was in high school but one of her science teachers told she wasn't good enough to be one so she became a teacher. That truly upsets me that someone would say that to her but also she would give up like that. I have taken a class with Ms. Gurry before and I know that she is smart and very capable. I could definitely imagine her being a doctor. I just hate how people feel that they need to bring women down in society. Is it because they feel a sense of authority or power from it? Or they feel that it is their right? Either way it is just upsetting and disappointing. I know that whatever I do with my life in the future, I won't let anyone tell me I can't because I know that I can and that I will.