Off Message By Jennifer O’Connell

Published: Saturday, September 18, 2010

Dear daughter: I wanted to write you a note of apology for the ways in which my generation has so dismally failed yours. Right now - through your four yearold eyes - the world is an uncomplicated place.

When you grow up, you confidently assert, you're going to be an astronaut, an artist, or a washing machine lady. You love your little brother, but mainly you pity him because of his gender. ''One day, you'll be big like me," you tell him. ''But you'll never be as big as me.

And'' - you sigh sadly, ''you'll still be a boy." You are, indisputably, the chief executive of the playroom, the chief operations officer and the board of management.

Trying to convey to you right now that the world might not always work like this would be like trying to explain string theory.

We had a conversation once about a country called Saudi Arabia where women are not allowed to drive cars.

You stared at me, saucereyed. ''But who won't let them?" you demanded to know, incredulous at the concept of that omnipotent being - a 'Mummy' - being told what to do by anyone.

By the time you're in your teens, you'll have realised that life is a bit more complicated than that.

You'll have encountered the concept of feminism, but if you're anything like today's generation of teenagers - loud and confident and surging ahead - you will quickly conclude that it has nothing to offer you.

Eighteen years from now, when you're probably embarking on a career, you might start to notice a few things that jar with your determinedly feminocentric view of the world.

You might observe that it's invariably your female colleagues with children who have to rush off out of the office at 5pm, or who take time off when their children are sick, or who work part time.

You will have female bosses, but - I'd bet - still not at the top echelons of the organisation.

Even if women have begun to catch up, I doubt you'll be surprised to learn that in your mother's time, 70 per cent of managerial roles were held by men - because, generally, being a manager requires someone to work full time, and unless they find some way for men to have babies by the time you grow up, that's not going to change.

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This article was found in the Sunday Business Post on the 19th September, 2010

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