WHAT DO WOMEN WANT?

What do women want? It's an age-old question---and half the time, it seems as though even women themselves are confused about the answer. Why? It's simple, really. All women are not alike, and they do not all want the same things from life.

In decades past, feminists burned their bras and fought for the equality of women. In their wake, it became de rigueur for women to work. Life as a homemaker, it seemed, became a thing of the past (never mind that there were actually countless women who preferred to stay at home and who had never wanted to be dragged into the workplace to begin with).

The generations who followed the Baby Boomers frequently had two married parents who worked---or two divorced parents who worked. These were generations of children often entrusted to nannies, daycare, preschool, and after-school programs. As a result, they supposedly grew up hip and savvy, the women among them providing the impetus for such things as hit television shows and chick lit.

Today's Woman, we heard, was no longer nearly as interested in marriage and happily-ever-after endings, but, rather, in her career and her journey of own personal growth. Yes, eventually, perhaps Mr. Right would come along---and then Today's Woman would have it all...a career, a husband, children, and the perfect home.

Time for a reality check?

According to a survey for New Woman magazine, today's average 29-year-old woman, far from wanting it all, has realized a superwoman lifestyle isn't all it's allegedly cracked up to be, and she is now ready to scrap it all and return to the lifestyle of the 1950s, complete with commitment to a lifetime partner and the white-picket fence.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that is indeed what many 29-year-old women want. What does surprise me is the constant assumption by some that all women are alike and want the same things from life. The truth is that, regardless of age, we're not, and we don't.

What is (and has always been) important is that, as women, we have the freedom to choose what we want from life---whether it's a career, a family, or both, or neither---and that we respect other women's choices, too, even if they're not our own.