Role Overload, Role Conflict

Enough As She Is: How to Help Girls Move Beyond Impossible Standards of Success to Live Healthy, Happy, and Fulfilling Lives by Rachel Simmons
Harper, February 27, 2018

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Rachel Simmons’ new book presents a persuasive argument about interventions adults should make to try to alleviate some of the pressures that students in general, and girls in particular, have internalized. In the era of what Simmons calls the "College Application Industrial Complex," school-related stakes are high for all but especially, says Simmons, for girls who "look exceptional on paper but are often overwhelmed and anxious in life." Why do so many girls feel that no matter their accomplishments, they are still failing? Simmons identifies "role overload" – the idea that girls try to play more roles in their lives than they are able to be successful in – and "role conflict" – the fact that more often than not, these many roles are at odds with one another. What teachers and parents can do to help is quite simple, says Simmons. Rather than tell girls to stop being perfectionists, be more confident, or take more risks, Simmons suggests we engage in honest conversations with girls about the culture we all live in together and seek to redirect their catastrophizing when it occurs.