Michelle Obama Says No, Actually, Women Can't Have It All

Michelle Obama says it's not always possible for women to have it all. Talking in New York during the book tour for her best-selling memoir, Becoming, the former First Lady said that it was unrealistic to be able to master all areas of your life at one time.

She also challenged the concept of 'leaning in' - a term coined by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg to describe how women should be more assertive and to move towards leading rather than supportive roles.

'That whole "so you can have it all." Nope, not at the same time,' Obama said, according to the The Cut. 'That’s a lie. And it’s not always enough to lean in, because that shit doesn’t work all the time.'

Sandberg has said herself that we have a long way to go until gender parity is achieved, and that her 'lean in' method hasn't been as beneficial as she'd have liked.

'We are stuck at less than 6 per cent of the Fortune 500 CEO jobs and their equivalent in almost every country in the world,' Sandberg said in 2017. 'There were 19 countries run by women when Lean In was published. Today there are 11.'

Obama is in conversation with Chimanda Ngozi Adichie at a sell-out event held at the Southbank Centre in London tonight, 3 December. Tickets were sold on resale site Viagogo for as much as £70,000.

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Ella Alexander

Ella Alexander is Harper’s Bazaar's Deputy Digital Editor. She writes across all sections, covering fashion, arts and feminism – from fashion features and shopping galleries to celebrity interviews and long-form opinion pieces. She lives in South London and has an ardent love for Keith Richards, Gary Barlow, AA Gill, George Orwell and Patti Smith (not in order). Her favourite film is The Labyrinth, mostly because of David Bowie, and she is distinguishable through her self-titled ‘Jeremy Corbyn baker boy hat’. She recently achieved relative fame after the Clooneys named their twins, Ella and Alexander, after her.