When you take a look around the PR community, it doesn’t take long to realize that the field is dominated by women. It takes even less time to find out that many of those women would be described as “Type A” personalities, perfectionists.

In a profession where ambition and attention to detail are essential, it is easy to let those qualities take over. But what us Type A ladies need to realize is that, sometimes, perfection isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Recently, articles focused on this topic have been popping up all over the place, from CNN to Huffington Post. These articles all have one thing in common – they discuss how, over the years, feminism has been morphed into a search for perfection by many.

The authors say that because women got so excited about all of the new opportunities being created for them, they began to create a myth in which women could have it all. Not only were women now striving to have it all….they also were falling victim to the idea that it would be easy. In these articles, the authors also argue that as women continue to accomplish more, we also continue to aim for this unrealistic sense of perfection.

Everyday, we are killing ourselves to be more educated, put in more hours at work, get more accomplished; and if we were doing it solely for our own satisfaction, that would be great. But we aren’t. This false idea of perfection has been ingrained in our minds, and unfortunately it is still a driving force for many of us.

All of the recent articles written on this subject share ways to combat perfectionism – learning to say no, getting rid of guilt, speaking up, and more. While we may not be able to completely write off our quest for perfection, it may do women some good to implement these ideas in our lives.

Do you think women are too focused on perfection? What do you do to keep yourself from getting stuck in this mindset?

This post was written by PPRA Blog Chair Lauren Cox. Lauren is a Public Relations Specialist in the Office of the CIty Representative, where she works on the City’s major events like the Wawa Welcome America! Festival and the Philadelphia Marathon. Connect with her on Twitter or LinkedIn.