‘I got goosebumps’: Serena Williams’ searing honesty skewers the impossible reality for women

msn.com:

Vogue essay on “evolving away from tennis” has given women around the world “goosebumps” for voicing their shared reality. The first-person piece from the tennis great laid bare the reality that women are faced with a unique dilemma when it comes to choosing between being a parent and pursuing their career. “Believe me, I never wanted to have to choose between tennis and a family.

I don’t think it’s fair. If I were a guy, I wouldn’t be writing this because I’d be out there playing and winning while my wife was doing the physical labor of expanding our family,” the 23-time Grand Slam winner wrote in the article accompanied by Annie Leibovitz photographs of her at various stages of her career. “Maybe I’d be more of a Tom Brady if I had that opportunity.

Don’t get me wrong: I love being a woman, and I loved every second of being pregnant with Olympia,” she said, adding that she was two months pregnant when she won the Australian Open in 2017. “But I’m turning 41 this month, and something’s got to give,” she said.

Justine Roberts, CEO and founder of Mumsnet, said “there will be few mothers who don’t relate to Serena Williams describing the challenge of juggling both her career and starting a family. ” “The fact that such a successful sporting legend with vast resources at hand also buckled under the near-impossibility of it must be a clarion call for change. “Until employers embrace flexible and remote work – which also has huge business benefits – and childcare is treated as the infrastructure that it is, the motherhood penalty will continue to give women a very raw deal. ”Analiese Doctrove of support group Pregnant Then Screwed said “Serena perfectly highlights the issues women face everyday in having to choose between.