superwoman, ancient greek-style
Whether it is what we remember from the unquenchable enthusiasm of a high school Ancient Greek teacher or through a sleep-induced haze from the back row of a lecture theatre in third-year compulsory Classics at university, most of us have some grasp, no matter how tenuous, of Greek mythology.
We might even remember the names of certain deities. Zeus, king of the gods. Eros, the little cherubim with his quiver of love arrows. Hera, the mature goddess of mothers and childbirth. Aphrodite, frivolous goddess of sex and desire. Or even Athena, the somewhat masculine goddess of wisdom and warfare.
Believe it or not, these deities are still important, even today. Take the last three mentioned above: Hera, Aphrodite and Athena. They are not merely old representations we see on broken pot fragments or standing in museums with their white marble heads and arms missing. But why are their roles segregated in such a manner? Why can’t the goddess of wisdom be combined with the goddess of desire? Surely a number of problems could have been solved if this were the case. Or the goddess of warfare be combined with the goddess of childbirth – both are fighting a war of sorts, or so it seems during the latter.
In fact, these mythical beings were created by the dominant, more literate and more publicly visible group in ancient Greek society – the men. Perhaps it was easier to delegate individual roles to individual deities. Or perhaps they simply couldn’t fathom the idea of one woman, even a divine one, embodying all these assets. For she would surely have been a frightening spectre to behold! The irresistible goddess of desire, warfare, wisdom, mothers and childbirth. She would be unbeatable, unstoppable. Terrifying! And certainly one to challenge the status quo.
And yet, these roles are still segregated in some ways in today’s world. The modern woman is still trying to choose which one to emulate in their own lives, thousands of years after the creation of these myths. Should she follow Athena’s example and forgo motherhood in favour of a rewarding and successful career? Or the reverse; be a full-time mum like Hera and forget career options? Or, a less common choice it has to be said, skip both in favour of maintaining a gorgeous image and body all her life like Aphrodite?
But why does a choice have to be made? It is true plenty of women attempt to combine a few of these roles throughout their lives, the most common being locating and maintaining the tenuous balance between career and family. But for most of us a choice needs to be made at risk of attempting all three and failing badly. Very few of us can look at our lives and check off the list or successes. Family? Tick. Career? Tick. Looking gorgeous? Tick. A term has been coined for those women who successfully fulfil all three roles: superwomen. For super they are!
However, the key adverb here is, undeniably, “successfully”. It is perfectly possible to be a successful mother with a mediocre career and a tendency for trackies, ugg-boots and “bed hair”. Or be an image of health, fitness and beauty with a part-time career and a family, which means you would rather spend an extra hour at the gym or the hairdresser’s than go home. Only the superwomen achieve success in all three areas of their lives.
However, whilst the fact that the choice is forced upon us is irritating and, at first glance, can seem unjust, we need to remember how lucky we are to have the choice. Women in Ancient Greece certainly did not, confined to the house as an emulation of Hera. Even today, there are women around the world who still do not have the luxury of a choice. So before we complain about how exhausting it is to balance family and work life, perhaps we should take a moment and enjoy the fact that we can in fact balance them if we choose to – even with limited success. We all make errors and that’s okay. When the work side of the scale starts to tip, grab another pebble and add it to the family side to even things up.
Let’s leave the blinding career, family and beauty success to the superwomen. After all, the world wouldn’t be able to cope with more than a few.
By Christina Bulbrook
