Enough is enough, says Superwomen Anonymous

Press, 3 February 1986, Page 8

Enough is enough, says Superwomen Anonymous

American women count the cost of liberation —Annick Benoist, Agence France-Presse-NZPA, in Washington.

American women are beginning to rebel against the "superwoman” Ideal, finding many gains in the fight for equality have turned against them and that trying to do everything is a recipe for exhaustion not fulfilment. A group in California calling itself “Superwomen Anonymous” or “Ex-Superwomen,” far from being dismissed as just another fad, has been welcomed by leading feminists, who are having second thoughts about some of the very things they fought so hard to win. The group’s motto is “enough is enough.” That is also the title of the book by the movement’s founder, Carol Orsbora, in which she explains why she stopped trying to be a superwoman. “You have or aspire to a thriving career, a welladjusted child or children, quality time, a physically fit body and beauty that is more than skin deep, a loving primary relationship, a meaningful hobby and the kind of hairspray that inspires you to dance your feet off after a hard day’s work ... and you feel inadequate?” “You can’t have it all,” she declares. As a brown belt karate, head of a large public relations firm and mother of two, isn’t she doing too much herself? “Not at all,” she retorts. She is a reformed superwoman. She only works 30 hours a week against 57 before, she spends more time with her family and has moved to a house half the size (“less work, less money.”) As for running Superwomen Anonymous, it is a dream organisation for overworked women. It doesn't hold meetings or fund raising campaigns and it has got a man answering the phone. “The last thing we wanted was something else to do.”

About 1000 women have joined the movement since it was set up in San Francisco six months ago. Its bulletin propounds the theories of behavioural psychologists on the “E type” of woman. Women of this type find their home and professional life not enough and build up artificial obliga-

tions and strive for the w kind of perfectionism ■ glorified by the . media. In a consumer society j geared towards success at all cost, the “superwoman syndrome” is hard to . avoid. But it can be very damaging, if one believes . Herbert Freudenberger. According to his book “Women’’s Burnout,” the - high-powered business- : women who pushed to get > to the top in what is still a . man’s world have run out of steam. The feeling of being excluded sets off a patho- . logical reaction in women, he argues: with the need to prove themselves, fear of losing control, giving up everyday pleasures to J take on an ever increasing workload. This leads rapidly to , disappointment, bitter- > ness, a sense of impotence, then depression,re- s course to stimulants, seda- ; tives, physical and mental . exhaustion and finally sui- j cide.

The picture is so bleak . that feminists are ap- J palled at the perverse ef- -J fects of the situation they, [■ fought to bring about.

The feminist writer, >. Betty Friedan, who in the 1960 s declared the family -> an oppressive institution, •• is now concerned at the 1 emotional isolation inwhich career women find I themselves today. Many measures taken to achieve greater equal- * ity have turned against ; women. Divorce by mutual consent and the . liberalisation of the abor- - tion laws have released . men from their obllga- •; tions and put women under greater emotional - and financial pressure. J Superwomen Anony- ' mous would like to see an •' end to the role-model of > the perfect woman as represented by Jane Fonda. J In the meantime, to j combat overwork,, it advises: use traffic jams to , relax, force yourself to do i nothing for 15 minutes and above all, wear your 4 badge “enough is enough” predominantly and look at ' it hard before accepting 1 any new task. ’ -i “Also try to convince 2 men that they should • have a great life instead J of trying to achieve great- -! ness.” n