Pearl - April 12, 2025The Modern Woman Life Cycle Is a Trap – And Here’s the Proof
Episode Stats
Words per minute
172.78325
Harmful content
Misogyny
22
sentences flagged
Toxicity
9
sentences flagged
Hate speech
18
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Summary
It s the quintessential roadmap of the path that women in 2025 are taking to end up alone with their dog or cat in their 40s and 50s, look back at their life with nothing but regret. Modern women will go to a high-priced institution, get a degree that nobody cares about, put themselves in a whole bunch of debt, and will burden them for the rest of their lives. After they learn in school, all they learn about in school is how to be disagreeable and how to use men. Modern women at stage 4 will wake up between the ages of 33 and 37, rush to have kids, find a husband or do both, step into their late 30s and early 40s, try to get pregnant by a loser or go through IVF, step 6. Women will start on antidepressants or become alcoholics, either or we don t discriminate here. Step 7, women will buy a dog or a cat and die alone.
Transcript
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I took a career break to raise my kids and now I feel like a failure.
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Today we're going to talk about the modern woman life cycle.
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It is the quintessential roadmap of the path that women in 2025 are taking to end up alone
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with their dog or cat in their 40s and 50s, look back at their life with nothing but regret.
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So just to recap, modern women will go to a high-priced institution, get a degree that
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nobody cares about to put themselves in a whole bunch of debt and will burden them for
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After they learn in school, all they learn in school is how to be disagreeable and how
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Modern women, number two, modern women will get a job that is too stressful and does not
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In reality, the job isn't that hard or stressful, but the women will convince themselves that
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Three, modern women will feel entitled to a certain lifestyle when they begin their careers
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and will buy houses and cars they can't afford or spend all their money on travel while ignoring
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Modern women at stage four will wake up between the ages of 33 to 37, rush to have kids, find
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Modern women will hit their late 30s and early 40s, try to get pregnant by a loser or go through
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Modern women will start on antidepressants or become alcoholics, either or.
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Step seven, women will buy a dog or a cat and die alone.
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So today we're going to talk about the slight variation of the modern woman life cycle.
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There are women who choose to have kids when they are young, but choose their careers for
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These women, just like women in the modern women life cycle, paid too much for a degree
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to get a job that doesn't pay well and are usually in positions out the door, are in
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positions that are out the door when an economic downturn happens.
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These women neglect their children, causing serious damage to them and their development.
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Many of these women miss their children's first words, first steps, and formative early
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The average salary of a woman with a degree in the United States is still around $50,000
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Is this still enough compensation to miss out on important things in their kids' lives?
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Sadly, if you ask many of these career women, they would say yes.
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So we are going to talk about women regretting picking kids over her career.
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Like, you're like, oh, mom wrote an article today.
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I took a career break to raise my kids, and now I feel like a failure.
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Every other Saturday, British Vogue resident, agony aunt Eva Wiseman answers questions about
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A few years ago, I was flying high at work, but when my husband got the opportunity to
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almost double his salary by working far away from home three nights a week, juggling my
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job and caring for my young son, all I got was too, all, sorry, juggling my job and caring
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for my young son all got too much for me, and I decided to quit.
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At first, it felt liberating, but after a year, I was ready to go back to work.
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Despite having tons of interviews, I eventually took a job that I find boring because I'm overqualified.
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Now I feel like a complete loser, and I'm full of regret for giving up my career.
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Plus, I can't help but feel bitter and angry with my peers, one of who is now a CEO at a
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So translation, they paid a nanny to raise the kids, right?
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I feel weak and pathetic and like I'm being punished for it, and I'm in a job I hate partially
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because I don't want to look like I've failed.
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You left work because that was the right decision for your family at the time.
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After having a child, many parents discover, first slowly but then fast, the realities of
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a painfully unbalanced world, suddenly seeing for themselves how a lack of a flexible working
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arrangement and affordable childcare is preventing many thousands of women from progressing in
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I wasn't going to progress in my career anyway, otherwise I wouldn't have given it up.
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But I want to blame it on something, so I'm going to blame it on the kids.
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Working mothers might be the norm today, but large flakes of the old patriarchy remain in
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A campaign around the motherhood penalty last year revealed that the gap between mothers
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and fathers in the U.K. has grown by nearly a pound an hour since 2020.
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On average, mothers earn 24 cents less an hour than fathers in 2023.
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A penalty of four forty four dollars and forty four pounds an hour.
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One consequence of this is that because women earn less than their male partners, it makes
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sense, as you found for them to be the one to leave their jobs when it becomes untenable
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As it's hard to return, even with the new knowledge you've gained about interpersonal relationships
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and negotiation, patience and budgeting from having a kid, some new employers are suspicious
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of your career break or somehow they don't want like they don't want to pay for career
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Or certain somehow that your brain has defrosted in times of motherhood.
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All previous experience and sense now surely replaced with naptimes or Lego.
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Or they're unwilling to employ somebody they believe will never prioritize work or will
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no doubt leave in 10 minutes to have another baby.
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They are the failures, of course, of our society.
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One that pays lip service to the pursuit of equality but refuses to adapt in order to
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accommodate those who have caregiving responsibilities.
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If you can't afford to, I think you should quit the job you hate.
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You're simply a woman struggling to find fulfilling work in a world designed for men and struggling
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with politics and identity shifts that come with motherhood.
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Once you start being sweeter to yourself, you will be able to rediscover the ambitious
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drive that you saw flying high and find a job that offers growth and satisfaction.
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You need to stop comparing yourself to other mothers.
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It's silly and it only makes you feel worse.
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The CEO with the kids, she has nothing to do with you, your life, or your careers.
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That's like, um, that's actually the only good advice I've ever heard a woman give.
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For all you know, despite the job and the children, she is struggling too.
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Countless sacrifices she is making when she appears to excel.
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Like you, some of them feel imposed upon her by that great, brutish hands that nudge one's
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life as they age, pushing and bruising even the best laid plans.
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Don't compare yourself to other women and fight the patriarchy.
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