20.  Women fail to balance career and home life Two in every three women want to quit the rat race as they try to juggle the (21) ______ demands of work and home, a survey has found. Trying hard – but failing – to achieve a balanced life is the greatest obstacle to a woman’s (22) ______, according to the survey of 2,000 women with an average age of 38. The survey presents complex findings to the (23) ______, whose policies have been designed to encourage most mothers to work. A document from the Women and Equality Unit said women with young children should go to work. It suggested that mothers who stayed at home were failing to pay the state back for the cost of their time at school or university. Working mothers were “maximising returns on public and private investment in (24) ______ and training,” it said. Measures to help those wanting more time at home included increased maternity pay, extended maternity leave and paternity leave and new rights on flexible hours. Yet the survey for Top Sante Health and Beauty magazine found that women were often frustrated because they could not cope with work and home life. Much of women’s anxiety appears to come from the (25) ______ high standards set by socalled “supermoms”. Three-quarters of women surveyed, whose average total household income was £39,000, said their lives were not what they thought they would be. Six out of ten complained that their sex lives and social lives were (26) ______. Marina Gask, the editor of Top Sante, said: “The ‘have it all’ dream has turned into a ‘do it all’ nightmare.” In reality, most women struggle to look after their families and hold down a demanding job to make ends meet. Despite their hard work, many are up to their necks in debt, feel (27) ______ drained, financially (28) ______ and unsatisfied sexually and socially. The endless (29) ______ of elegant celebrities left most women feeling imperfect. Their poor body image played on their minds and ruined their (30) ______ of everyday life. Unlike their grandmothers, they are no longer prepared to accept ageing. As a result, more women than ever are turning to the extreme option of cosmetic surgery which they regard as a quick fix to their body problems.(DYA)