It IS a choice in the sense that women can choose not to get married, not to have children, etc. In fact, this is one reason Florence Nightingale never got married despite the fact that she had many proposals. Her work was too important to her and she knew she'd have to give it up if she got married.

Other women in that era who were writers, artists, etc., had their careers suffer when they got married. In some cases, their husbands insisted they give up their careers to focus on the family. In other cases, the husbands were supportive, in the sense that they encouraged their wives, but they still expected the women to do more around the house.

Has this changed? I think nowadays men give more lip service to helping around the house - but they still call it "helping" instead of treating it as a partnership of equals.

Meanwhile, men don't have to make this choice. They can get married without an impact to their careers; in fact, they often can devote more energy to their jobs as their wives or girlfriends will take care of all the "little things" that really aren't so little.

Is this fair? No. But this is still the reality for most women...