<p>From the London Times</p>
<p>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href=“The Times & The Sunday Times: breaking news & today's latest headlines”>The Times & The Sunday Times: breaking news & today's latest headlines;
<p>*Sir Bob Geldof *</p>
<p>I didn’t think last names were used
Its just Sir Bob isn’t it?, ( hey we have the same birthday- I am a few years younger though and my kids aren’t named Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom and Little Pixie
)</p>
<p>“alpha females on the rise” could be the name of a reality tv show that mistress matisse , a columnist from the Seattle Weekly just proposed.
Google it yourself, Im not getting myself in trouble ;)</p>
<p>"alpha’ females have been around for as long as we have been walking upright…just in the last few decades have they been given the chance to show what they have to offer</p>
<p>you all must remember a time when women didn’t have their own credit, couldn’t vote, own property, get loans, etc…darn those feminists for paving the way</p>
<p>Bizarre. I was thinking about this before logging on after watching teens mixing (and not mixing) at a multi-age party this weekend.
And I read about new young workers not knowing how to be self-motivated, because someone had always scheduled their busy lives for them.
Would love to hear and share more thoughts for the group aged 15 to 25ish, grown beyond the old “mean-girl” middle school stereotype. I have an only child, in some ways very alpha, but in some ways not, and I’m intrigued by how this generation will work together as a group in the future.
The demographics and early achievements are huge. Can these kids sustain it and motivate themselves in the next stage of their lives?
Their moms have been the role models and the social glue in the past. Which of the new generation will provide their social glue?</p>
<p>I have a theory that girls born in the year 1990 were exposed to some kind of bizarre atmospheric electromagnetic charge (or whatnot) while still in the womb. I have never met a one who wasn’t an alpha female, and who didn’t have at least a brief tenure as a “mean girl” in middle school. I base this on my experiences leading my daughter’s Daisy/Brownie/Girl Scout troop from Hell, as well as my observations as a dance mom for the past million years. These kids will be alright; I worry sometimes about everyone else who has to interact with them.</p>
<p>Ha! So true. I am thinking of quite a few 1990 girls, including my own.</p>
<p>Not to let this devolve into a gender battle, because my DD benefited from many nurturing men committed to building strong women:</p>
<p>Some have said our generation was raising its revenge. Maybe that’s too strong a word. I guess every generation has vowed to give the next one what they felt they lacked. But in doing so, what have we failed to teach that we still have time to try to correct?</p>
<p>There’s a market for a book here: Perhaps not a fictionalized/nonfiction autobiography of a high achiever, but rather a compilation of stories and advice from all kinds of 25- to 30-year olds to their younger “sisters.” Does “What I Know Now” do that? I’m thinking more along the lines of a “Passages” by Gail Sheehy for a new generation. Include those who stepped off alpha track to become moms or to define success in different ways.</p>
<p>i guess i would be categorized as one of these alpha 1990 girls-- i was reading maureen dowd’s book the other day though (are men necessary?) and she had all these statistics about how more educated/more motivated women are much less likely to get married than their less educated/motivated counterparts. true? are guys really so intimidated by an ‘equal’ (a la The Heidi Chronicles)?</p>
<p>I don’t think so at all, deenierah (and I have two sons). I think Maureen Dowd has some “issues” in that area. :)</p>
<p>“are guys really so intimidated by an ‘equal’?”</p>
<p>I think it’s more likely that they’re put off by the infidelity/education statistics.</p>
<p>The childless stats are worrisome–but the early start and the self-employment ring true for me. If I had a daughter I would tell her the same thing I tell young architects: start your own business as soon as you can, preferably before the age of 30. I’d say the same thing about having children. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I heard last night that something like 47% of all 50 year old American women are single. One way or the other, in this day and age, chances are very high that women will end up single in their middle age.</p>
<p>Beware of stats.</p>
<p>1986 Newsweek: “A new study reports that college-educated women who are still single at the age of 35 have only a 5 percent chance of ever getting married…Across the country, women reacted with fury, anxietyand skepticism.”</p>
<p>(And we all went out and got married and had babies. Thus one reason for the Baby Boom Echo, now coming of age.)</p>
<p>2006 Newsweek: “Those odds-she’ll-marry statistics turned out to be too pessimistic: today it appears that about 90 percent of baby-boomer men and women either have married or will marry, a ratio that’s well in line with historical averages.”</p>
<p>But staying married? That’s harder. And staying happily married is even harder. So applaud those who’ve done it, learn from them and don’t let broad statistics enter too much into your decision-making. Don’t “settle.” (Parents have never let this new generation “settle.”) Do seek balance.</p>
<p>And if you’re a young alpha female? Self-employment sounds very interesting, yes. But sooner or later, in politics or work or society, the whole team thing is going to come into play. Will those organized sports or clubs pay off?</p>
<p>Self-employment gives women the chance to cut their own deal for motherhood. It doesn’t mean working alone. It usually means building up a team of employees and collaborators.</p>
<p>Actually I said infidelity/education statistics, not infertility/education statistics.</p>
<p>Apparently higher education levels come with an increased average likelihood of being unfaithful to one’s husband.</p>
<p>Run for the hills.</p>