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THEWAY ISEEIT... Wise words from our feisty, fearless and funny columnist
‘Lily Allen has put the cat amongst the nesting pigeons and the working mums are up in arms after she said in an interview that although she loves her kids, they totally ruined her career.
Predictably, people are attacking her for putting the blame for her stunted career on her kids, but that’s not what she said at all. She rather refreshingly and honestly said that her decision to have kids and put them first ruined her chances of further pop stardom. She wasn’t blaming the kids! Maybe it was on the slide anyway and we can debate the trajectory of her career if you like, but that’s not really the point. It is that women can’t have it all. You have to make a choice between putting your kids first, or yourself and a career.
As many women who’ve agreed with her have said, if you think you can have both, one will suffer and that’s absolutely right.
It could be that the women who are offended by her comments know deep down that she’s right, and she’s shaming them for making the choice to put a job first. But that’s not it either. She’s not shaming anyone, just stating a simple fact. Ironically, the ones who do get shamed these days are those who choose to be stay-at-home mums!
It’s controversial for sure because the myth that women can have it all is still perpetrated by all sorts of groups, including the Government, who support childcare for the middle classes more than they do the homeless, or the poverty-stricken.
Of course, some women don’t have a choice and have to work – but if that work is simply to pay for the chi
