For anyone who hasn’t heard about this lady, she was the 52 year old counsel for Rolls Royce who jumped to her death from a London hotel in the first week of January.
Ruthie was particularly upset by the incident, not least because The Times published a photograph of her in free fall, but also the nature of the coverage. Ms Ward was apparently a single career woman living alone, and earning around 250 k per year. Ruthie wonders whether a man in a similar position would have been described as a single career man. The clear inference is that her decision to be single and a successful lawyer was somehow linked to her self destruction. So girls, remember, if you don’t want to end up sad, alone and miserable, make sure that you stay at home and have lots of children, and don’t try and compete in a man’s world…
Lest anyone think that I am a raving feminist, may I disabuse you of that idea now. I am an individualist and believe that everyone ought to have equal opportunity to choose the lifestyle they want to lead, without being forced into a role based purely on their gender/sexuality/colour etc.
thank you for these words.Even though it`s been a couple of months since it happened I am still thinking what pushed Ms Ward to do that.She seemed to have everything in her life…it`s so sad…
I was deeply affected by this event and the coverage. Firstly I hope The Times has learnt its lesson (I believe it was deluged with complaints and there were also complaints to the PCC). Secondly I hope that awareness within the profession has been increased so that the suffering of others might be noticed. I note there is presently a campaign being run by re-think to try and reduce the stigma attached to depression, (the ignorance of even educated people being a sad and continuing problem) although no-one will ever really know what finally drove Katherine to her death. I also think there is some way to go to for women to be accepted within the profession at the higher levels. We are still resented and seen as outsiders by some and this type of coverage in the Times only serves to highlight the problem.
As much as this is a shock to me, I myself am an overachiever. I’m A nurse( 11 years) working and finishing up my MBA/MSN degree to later go back to Law school. I am single (divorced) with one child. I feel as though my life is really short and time is speeding away. There are times when it really gets rough, but my child is the reason I’m still here. Reading this incident that carries the same name as I, really frieghtened me to take a reflection of what may happen if I feel I failed. Hopefullly I can take this as word from the wise. Thankyou.
Its dangerous to equate your self-worth too closely with external achievements (financial,academic etc etc) as all of us fail in our own eyes at some time or another. And over achievers tend to judge themselves far more harshly than anyone else. I pleased that you have your child to focus upon, but we all need to appreciate the simple value of our own lives in themselves. Life itself is a gift and a privilege. Whenever I feel as though I am losing perspective and disappearing up my own arse, I try and help someone else. Even if I have a sense of failure, I can succeed by making use of the abilities that I have by helping someone else.