'Life's too short to stuff a mushroom' wrote Shirley Conran back in 1975 summing up her philosophy of the 'superwoman' as somebody who specifically doesn't try to do too much. But the image of the 'superwoman' as someone balancing a briefcase and babies with her sensitive 'new man' looking after the children and doing his fair share of the housework, were how the 'odd couple' of the eighties were popularly portrayed.
So what factors led to the 'new man' and 'superwoman' emerging into popular consciousness at that time? Were they taken seriously as new expressions of femininity and masculinity or regarded with sneaking disdain? Or did they even exist at all? Jenni will be joined by psychotherapist Professor Susie Orbach, broadcaster Robert Elms and novelist Dave Hill, to discuss their evolution.
