Why are some women so uncomfortable admitting that they are ambitious? In Necessary Dreams, New York psychiatrist Anna Fels examines the role ambition plays in the lives of women from a variety of perspectives using autobiographies of renowned women and men and incorporating research from psychology, sociology, neurophysiology, learning theory, and occupational behavior. Necessary Dreams is not an academic study but uses existing scholarship to provide grounding for this fascinating topic. Fels states that she intends for her book to serve as a template for women deciding on decisions affecting all aspects of their futures.
After reviewing psychological theories on this topic, Fels discovered that the majority of the research focused on the study of an individual's past —not their future. In fact, most methods of therapy begin with the patient's earliest memory. Intrigued by the notion of how women envisioned their futures, she began her interviews with women by asking them how they imagined their futures in five to ten years. Fels' primary research included interviews of friends and acquaintances—men and women—who were highly accomplished in their fields. What she realized after hearing a diverse range of women's thoughts about their futures was that those who had clear and well-defined plans expressed a stronger sense of well-being. Women who were less focused about their futures were more anxious and unhappy.
The two elements that Fels uses to define ambition, based on the literature, are the mastery of a skill or expertise and the recognition of the achievement of that mastery. Fels warns readers early on that it is the recognition component of ambition that women find most troubling, and she devotes nearly one third of the book to this concept. She describes how women avoid attention and how recognition relates to femininity. She examines the inequality of rewards for men and women, the pseudo-recognition that women have achieved historically, and the role that parents, mentors, institutions, and peers play throughout women's lives.
The section on careers, marriage, and family provides insight for women who are in the midst of making decisions about whether and who to marry and how to balance career and family ambitions.
In the end, she urges women to organize as a political constituency, with an agenda to influence government, and to support the interests of all women no matter what their domestic and career choices may be.
To illustrate key points, the author uses the experiences of highly accomplished, celebrated women such as Golda Meir, Katherine Graham, Jamaica Kincaid, and Anna Quindlen, as well as stories of everyday women. —Mallory Stark