I have had a lifelong, profound interest in this topic: the social pressures and related
challenges that women of all ages and socio-cultural backgrounds face and how they can deal
with them.
          Nine of my twenty-five years in private practice as a psychologist were particularly
significant. I worked in an outpatient program with an all-female staff and client base during that
period. All the doctors, staff, and patients were women. I come from a family where everyone is
male except for my mother and me. Being surrounded by all-female energy was a new and
positive experience for me.
At this clinic, I learned one thing that has stayed with me since it is how many social
pressures women face and how unhappy, guilty, or ashamed we feel if we do not rise to meet
them. I saw this firsthand, not only among clients but also in my own life and in my interactions
with the other doctors and staff.
This time in my career helped me formulate an essential objective: assisting women in
identifying and managing the pressures they feel from family, community, and society because of
their expectations, as well as the pressures women place on themselves based on internalizing
those expectations. In general, cultural or social stereotypes generate expectations, expectations
create demands, and demands are the source of pressures.
References:
Lamberghini-West, A. (2019). Your Life, Your Way – Become Aware of Social Pressures Limiting Women. Aysen LLC