The modern female lifestyle imperative known as 'having it all' has become a cursed nuisance for most women; and those who appear to juggle a full-time job, childcare, most of the housework, and a social life, while looking blissfully relaxed, tend to be viewed with suspicion rather than admiration.
Yet, considering how hard women have worked throughout the 20th century to earn the right to exercise control over every area of their lives, it makes sense that few of us are quite sure which ball it's now safe to drop, without letting the side down.
Rewind 100 years and women could not vote, had no right to receive equal pay and could not legally have an abortion.
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Suffragette Christabel Pankhurst in a Polling Booth during the General Election of December 1918.
While researching her book The Woman’s House, broadcast journalist Jenni Murray was surprised to learn that even in the year she was born (1950), “there there was no equal access to education”.
"The 1944 Education Act established the principle of free education for all from primary to secondary, but at eleven plus there were quotas for admission to grammar school," she writes for the BBC.
“Too many girls had been passing the exam and education authorities had decided to limit numbers. The quotas persisted in Birmingham and Northern Ireland until the late eighties when the High Court ruled them discriminatory.”
Such glimpses of recent modern history remind us that women's rights have not always been human rights.
Editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group Arianna Huffington recently stated that it's time for both men and women to redefine their successes beyond old-fashioned, patriarchal parameters.
Arianna wants to create a Third Metric, which redefines success beyond money and power.
“There are a million ways to live your life. No matter what the world says or the cultural expectations, live your own life. So many people lead other people's perceptions of success. They don't notice they are miserable because they think they are successful.”
Here's a list of more women who have helped shape the world we live in.
10 Women Who Shaped The 20th Century
Emmeline Pankhurst(01 of10)
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Co-founder of the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst was a British political activist and leader of the suffragette movement, alongside her daughters Christabel and Sylvia.In 1929, after decades of protests, women over the age of 21 were granted the right to vote.
Edith Summerskill(02 of10)
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In 1964, progressive social reformer and qualified doctor Edith Summerskill sought a private member's bill to enhance The Married Women’s Property Act, which entitled a woman to keep half of any savings she had made from the allowance she is given by her husband.As part of her campaigning to assure the equal rights of housewives and of divorced women, Summerskill also helped helped pass the Matrimonial Homes Act in 1967, which gave rights to wives to remain in their own homes after family breakdown. (credit:MediaWiki)
Dr Marie Stopes(03 of10)
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Scottish-born doctor and birth control pioneer Marie Carmichael Stopes (1880 - 1958), was best known for her campaigns to raise awareness about birth control and family planning.She founded the first birth control clinic in Britain and later focussed on the needs of the developing world. (credit:Getty Images)
Barbara Castle(04 of10)
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One of the first of women to breakthrough into mainstream British politics, from 1945 Barbara Castle spent her career passionately campaigning for change.Her achievement include the introduction of the Equal Pay Act in 1970, radically reforming pensions and bringing in child benefit as a payment to mothers rather than through the father's pay packet.
Germaine Greer(05 of10)
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Australian feminist writer Germaine Greer transformed conversations about women's rights, from equality to liberation. Her bestselling non-fiction book The Female Eunuch, published in 1970, sparked a debate about female sexual repression and the commodification of women's bodies in modern society, which continues today.
Margaret Thatcher(06 of10)
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Conservative MP Margaret Thatcher became the first British female prime minister in 1979. Thatcher held her role as PM for 11 years. (credit:MediaWiki)
Oprah Winfrey(07 of10)
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As the richest black woman in America and one of the most influential women in the world, Oprah Winfrey is an inspirational figure.Born to a single teenager mother, she raised herself out of poverty, and went on become a trusted voice on American television. Her confessional style of broadcasting, which encourages honesty and self-love, has helped her create a media empire, which has been invested in a multi-million pound charitable foundation.
Aung San Suu Kyi (08 of10)
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Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize (1991) and pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi has spent years under house arrest in her native home of Burma, as she fought against the country's military junta.She was eventually released in 2010 and able to deliver her Nobel acceptance speech at Oslo's City Hall in 2012.
Doreen Lawrence(09 of10)
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Described by Ed Miliband as "hero of modern Britain", Doreen Lawrence led a long campaign to find out what happened to her son, who was killed in a racially aggravated attack in 1993. Her campaign to find out the truth led to the exposure of institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police. She has now joined the House of Lords as a Labour Peer.
Mo Mowlam(10 of10)
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In 1998, British Labour politician Mo Mowlam oversaw the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement, after nearly two years of talks and 30 years of conflict.