UK: Disillusioned with stressful jobs, a whole generation of women are opting out of the rat race

Article here. Excerpt:

'For years, the only reason women would take a step back from their career was to raise a family, but my friends are getting off the treadmill before then.

A new book called 30-Something And Over It - What Happens When You Wake Up One Morning And Don't Want To Go To Work. . . Ever Again sums up the mood.
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In the book she quotes some interesting statistics. Apparently, 26 per cent of women at the cusp of the most senior levels of management don't want the promotion. One in 15 under-35s have already dropped out of paid work to pursue ' self-improvement', while half plan to do so in the future.

She speaks to several psychotherapists who are seeing as many people in the midst of thirtysomething burnout as they do those with mid-life crises.
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My friend Vanessa says she felt the same. 'I kept thinking things would get better if I just got to the next level, but they never did,' she says. 'I looked at my boss and didn't want his job. I sat in meetings and thought: "I don't care any more." I was stressed, single and not sleeping. And even though I was earning good money, I was broke because I was blowing it all on things to cheer myself up. It got to the stage where none of it made sense.'

And far from fuelling our ambition, it seems that the current economic crisis is only compounding our sense that status, success and money are a fool's gold."
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I learned to lower my expectations of what work will provide and found other things to give me meaning and fulfilment. I discovered that a job will never meet your relationship needs, and no matter how much you love it, it will never love you back.'