LONDON, June 12: An overwhelming 94 per cent of Britain’s working women are tired of Superwoman role models, according to a survey released on Thursday.

Emulating famous working mothers was not the answer for everyday women trying to cope with the demands of a job, motherhood and matrimony, it said.

“It’s time for superwoman to be put back in her box,” declared editor Juliette Kellow in the survey carried out by British magazine Top Sante.

“Superwoman-type role models aren’t at all helpful to ordinary working women with families who don’t have an army of people from nannies, personal secretaries, cleaners and hairdressers to support them.”

Eight out of ten working women thought both parents working full time led to more family breakdowns.

The survey said working women became bitter towards their partners with 84 percent of respondents saying men did not pull their weight as much as they could.

But at least a third of working women did not have the choice of giving up their career to dedicate themselves to family life because they earned more than their partner, the survey showed.

“Working women are still primarily responsible for the home and family and trying to fulfil all their relentless roles has brought them to their knees,” Kellow said. “A full time nanny and a new man are a myth for the majority of working women.”

“Well-paid part-time career job-shares are the way forward for working women with families, but at present these job opportunities are few and far between.”

The survey showed 57 percent of British companies still made no allowances for working mothers and, with women having children later in life, companies risked losing loyal employees with skills and experience.

“The stress of juggling work, home and children is seriously damaging women’s health,” Kellow said.

“They have so little time to mentally and physically relax, which is vital for health.”

Kellow added that stress explained why there was no “sisterhood” feeling between working women, with 80 percent saying other women were their worst enemies in the workplace.

“Women today have a pressure-cooker lifestyle, constantly running from one chore to the next — no wonder they’re becoming more aggressive,” she said.

The survey showed that if finances allowed, 48 percent of working women would choose to be “a woman of leisure”, 32 percent a “homemaker” and only 20 percent a career woman.

Top Sante interviewed 5,000 working women in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.—Reuters