Challenges That Career-Driven Women Often Face

The many challenges of life, career, and societal pressures on women can be slippery. Many career-driven women face the harder choice between career success and personal fulfillment. For many single women, trying to survive on their own is hard. Society expects you to be married with kids by a certain age, and if that’s not what you desire, something must be wrong, right?

What is a career-driven woman? A woman who places high value on her career, the progression of her career, and her job success.

Never should a woman find a way to survive on her own, and dare a woman not want kids. From the beginning of time, women weren’t allowed many rights. Now that women are granted these rights, are we wrong for working hard towards the things we were once not “deserving” of?

Many career-driven women struggle to compete for the top spot and respect at work and with many other things outside the workforce. What would a woman focused on striving in her career possibly be facing? Let’s talk about it.

Pressure from family to start a family

Women who work day and night to excel in their careers don’t necessarily have the time to date or the desire to. While trying to make a living for themselves, family members (typically the mother, father, or both) will often complain, but they don’t want to see their loved one alone. On holidays, it can be difficult to show up single, and everyone is so worried about you. Your family members constantly question you about when you’ll settle down. Being perceived as a “workaholic” can cause you to begin feeling guilty about your lifestyle.

Deciding to prioritize your career over your personal fulfillment can look unfulfilling on the outside to other people, but all that matters is what makes you happy.

Barriers at work

Being an important woman in the workplace can come with some barriers. According to Moving Dots, there’s a “speaking while female” phenomenon where women face challenges in being taken seriously or being heard in meetings, making it difficult for them to advance in their careers. They also mention the more well-known glass ceiling barrier. It is attributed to gender bias and discrimination in the workplace toward women, preventing them from receiving the same opportunities and promotions as their male colleagues.

Dating will be difficult

Most men see a career-driven woman as too masculine, which may also reflect some insecurities on the man’s end. But this is something most women who put their career first deal with. Unfortunately, most, if not all, men don’t want to be with a “strong woman.” Heavy emphasis on “strong woman” since it is perceived in a negative sense. Most men would prefer a more “traditional” partner because there’s a stigma that career-driven women are not always submissive.

It can be hard to balance a dating life when you’re focused on leveling up your career. Your partner may feel neglected or that you do not prioritize the relationship. It can be hard to maintain relationships when people feel like they are competing for a spot in your life.

Lack of work/life balance

Being unavailable due to work obligations will cause you to miss many important events. Someone focused heavily on their career will always put their career first, so you may not see your friends and family as often as you’re used to. Missing birthdays, baby showers, and get-togethers. You’ll find yourself working more than actually enjoying your life and may become lonely. Coming home after work to dinner for one and being unable to call on the people you found yourself neglecting.