J.C. Wiatt: What Does It Really Mean For A Woman To ‘Have It All’ – And The Very Little Progress Made To Accommodate Women In The Workforce Since The 1980’s

Last month, I, along with the entire world, was shattered to hear of Diane Keaton’s passing at age 79. She was an absolute beast of a legend. I grew up watching her movies Father Of The Bride is an unforgettable classic. When I told my husband of her passing, he dared to ask who she was. I swear, I was so outraged by his question that almost caused our divorce. I might’ve exaggerated on that a little bit, but nevertheless, I was shocked that I even had to explain to someone, let alone him, who she was. We then watched not one, but TWO movies that she starred in. These movies were ones I never even watched – 1987’s Baby Boom and 2024’s Arthur’s Whisky. Both were great.

Keaton’s career spanned more than six decades. She collaborated frequently with Woody Allen, appearing in eight of his films. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards, along with nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award. She was honored with the Film at Lincoln Center Gala Tribute in 2007 and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2017. So it’s pretty safe to say that she’d won GOLD in her career, and everything she ever achieved was so deserved. She was absolutely magnificent in her art. I could never forget that scene from The Godfather where all she and Al Pacino did was stare at one another. It was a mere definition of…if eyes could talk.

Though she was in relationships with the likes of Woody Allen, Al Pacino and Warren Beatty, Keaton never married. In a 2021 conversation with Lisa Kudrow published in Interview magazine, the actress shared what exactly led to that decision. She said, ‘It goes back to my mother, because, for me, most everything does. I love my dad, of course—that goes without saying—but she was always there, and he was always working. He was working hard, and he was really interesting. And he loved her, too. I mentioned watching her get that crowning glory and being Mrs. Highland Park. After that, we moved down to Santa Ana, and it was over. There was no more trying things out. I feel like she chose family over her dreams. And she was just the best mother, but I think that she is the reason why I didn’t get married. I didn’t want to give up my independence. By the way, no one has ever asked me to marry them, either, so that might be a good answer. I should’ve started with that and called it a day.’

In a 2019 interview with People magazine, the actress spoke about her probably being the only one in her generation who didn’t marry. She said, ‘I’m 73 and I think I’m the only one in my generation and maybe before who has been a single woman all her life. I don’t think it would have been a good idea for me to have married, and I’m really glad I didn’t, and I’m sure they’re happy about it, too. When I was young, I was looking to be loved by these extraordinary people. I think I should not have been so seduced by talent. When you’re both doing the same job, it’s not so great. I should have found just a nice human being, kind of a family guy.’

Though she never married, Keaton did have two children – daughter Dexter and son Duke. Both were welcomed through adoption in her 50’s. While she previously said that motherhood, just like marriage, wasn’t ever in the cards for her, she had a change of heart following her father’s death. I myself was shocked to get to know that she had children. I only realized this following the news of her death. I just assumed, maybe selfishly, that she solely focused on her career throughout her life. As I made the realization, I was astounded. Even more so, I connected the dots and made a connection between her real life and her reel life, particularly in the role she played in Baby Boom.

The story followed J.C. Wiatt, played by Keaton. She was a 40 year old woman focused on her career ambitions and achievements as she worked her way up in a male-dominated world as a management consultant. Nicknamed ‘The Tiger Lady’, J.C lived with her boyfriend, Steven Buchner, played by Harold Ramis, an investment banker. While being in a somewhat boring but somewhat familiar place in their lives together, J.C and Steven both decided that they’d never have children. They were solely focused on their respective careers.

On a totally random Tuesday, J.C got a call that her distant cousin the she never even met passed away and left her an inheritance. Thinking that it was a large sum of money, she and Steven got excited and planned their privileged future. J.C was disappointed to find out that it was, in actuality, a baby that she inherited. Her name was Elizabeth, and she was the cousin’s orphaned toddler.

Initially, J.C decided that she’d give Elizabeth up for adoption, but after having her spend the night at the house she shared with Steven, she grew a bond with her. That said, she decided to keep her and raise her as a working mom. Knowing that he had absolutely zero interest in raising a child, and not willing to give up his own life for J.C’s choice, the Steven broke off their relationship and moved out of their shared apartment. Her life changed entirely overnight.

Just as she accepted her ‘inheritance’ and embraced her new life as a mother, J.C was offered a promotion to become partner at her firm. CEO Hughes Larrabee was interested in having her manage the account of The Food Chain, a major company. Adjusting to life with Elizabeth, J.C. landed the account, and her protégé Ken Arrenberg was assigned to her team. She was excited. Despite her breakup with Steven, she wasn’t heartbroken at all. On the contrary, she was excited for the future. Things were coming along for her.

Nevertheless, J.C was obviously struggling trying to navigate being a new mother and a woman in the workforce. Her demanding job needed her full attention. Elizabeth, too, needed her full attention. She hired a series of nannies and enrolled Elizabeth in early development classes. When she found out that decisions at the company were made without her knowledge and consultation, J.C told her boss she wanted him off her team. She was then told she’d be moved to a lower-profile client, and her boss, a man, told her that he, too, had to choose between his career and family.

Feeling absolutely humiliated and devastated by her findings, J.C made the decision to quit her job altogether. Unlike her boss, she chose motherhood. She then made another altering life decision by moving to a farmhouse in Vermont. Purchasing the house without first having seen it in person or having it inspected, she found that it was riddled with problems. It was one problem after another, and each cost her a lot of time and money. By wintertime, she became strapped with escalating repairs needed to her new home, running out of money and patience, and overwhelmed with loneliness.

As she was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown, J.C met veterinarian Dr. Jeff Cooper, played by Sam Shepard. Her ‘little outburst’ motivated her to start a new business venture selling gourmet baby food applesauce she had concocted for Elizabeth from fresh ingredients. She didn’t have a smooth beginning, but the business grew into a full-fledged corporation named Country Baby, and as her new company grew, her connection with Jeff also became apparent, and they became a couple. She particularly became more attracted to him when she saw that he’d accepted Elizabeth as part of his life too – unlike Steven in the past.

After seeing the success of her new company, J.C’s former boss acquired an offer to purchase it. She returned to her former firm to meet with her former colleagues. They outline the multi-million-dollar deal to buy her company and distribute its products, offering her a lucrative salary with a Manhattan apartment and other benefits. She happily declined as she realized she was content with her new life with Jeff and Elizabeth. She wasn’t heartbroken happy being a mother, a girlfriend, and the CEO of her new company.

And that was it…

The movie was magnificent. It brought so much emotion and balance to the story of exactly what it meant to be a woman, especially back then. It explored the challenges of balancing a demanding career with motherhood, the unfair expectations placed on women to choose between career and family, and the possibility of defining one’s own version of “having it all”. It shows a high-powered executive forced to reconcile her professional identity with her new role as a mother, leading her to redefine her priorities and find success in a new, more balanced way. To break it down more thoroughly:

The career vs. motherhood dilemma

• The “Tiger Lady” paradox: The film portrays J.C. Wiatt as a high-powered, successful executive, nicknamed “The Tiger Lady” for her work ethic. When she unexpectedly becomes a mother, she is forced to confront the reality that her male colleagues expect her to make sacrifices that she believes no one should have to make.

• A flawed system: The movie highlights how the corporate world was not built to accommodate working mothers, leading J.C. to lose her promotion and many of her accounts after being a new parent. This reflects the “rock and a hard place” scenario many career-focused women faced in the 1980s. 

Redefining success and “having it all”

• A forced change of perspective: J.C.’s initial career-focused life is turned upside down, forcing her to shift her mindset and priorities. The film suggests that motherhood changes you, but not necessarily for the worse; it simply makes everything different, requiring a new approach.

• Finding personal fulfillment: J.C. eventually leaves the corporate world and builds a new, successful business creating baby food from applesauce, inspired by her experience as a mother. She learns to balance her professional life with her maternal one, finding a new kind of success and happiness on her own terms.

• A woman’s choice: The movie ultimately argues that “having it all” isn’t about fitting a pre-defined mold, but about defining what your “all” means for yourself. J.C. achieves success by embracing a different path and finding a way to be both a businesswoman and a mother, on her own terms. 

Perseverance and self-determination

• Embracing new challenges: Baby Boom shows that sometimes what looks like a setback can be a new beginning. J.C. has to take a leap of faith and learn to thrive in a completely new environment.

• Rejection of the status quo: The film is a reminder that women can choose to reject the status quo, as J.C. does in her final speech where she declares she is no longer just the “Tiger Lady”. She asserts that it’s possible to have a fulfilling career and personal life simultaneously, without having to sacrifice one for the other. 

As wonderful as the movie was, especially for the time that it was made, I’m so glad I didn’t get to watch it sooner. I’m glad I got to watch it as an adult. But moreover, I’m glad I got to watch it AFTER I became a mother myself. It’s because I truly believe that one can only understand the true essence of what the movie is actually about once they become a parent; particularly a mother. This is the type of movie that every woman out there should watch, especially every woman who’s Type A personality – a woman who maps out her entire life, leaving zero room for error.

J.C was initially set in her ways. She knew exactly how she wanted to live her life – child-free and solely focused on work. She was ambitious, determined, passionate, smart, intelligent, and a go-getter. Those were all things that made her a successful woman in a male-dominated work environment. Then she unintentionally became a mother. She was misguided. She suddenly came to realize exactly what women had to go through in a society that says that women can’t have it all. Somehow, 38 years after the movie’s release, this very fact is STILL relevant today. It’s actually disgusting how very little progress has been made in that timeframe.

Motherhood changes people in every sense of the word itself. It makes EVERYTHING so much more difficult. Motherhood means that we have to shift our mindset, rethink our priorities, and realize that we CAN, in fact, have it all as a mom. We just each have to individually figure out what our all means. J.C had it all when she was child-free and focusing on work while also being in a domesticated, somewhat boring, relationship with Steven. And though she already her own version of ‘having it all’ at that point in her life, she, to her surprise, became even more fulfilled when she became a mother and a CEO. It took her becoming that to realize that her version of having it all was completely different than the one she imagined.

There’s absolutely no shame in a woman deciding to live a child-free life and sticking by it. Motherhood isn’t for everyone, and if any woman out there feels like motherhood isn’t for them, they’re actually doing a big favour to society. Bringing another human into the world is the hardest thing one can ever do. It’s not just about you anymore. It’s about the little human that’s yours. You have a responsibility for that person, and every little decision you make on their behalf will affect them for the rest of their lives. It’s scary. It’s liberating. It’s…an absolute mind fuck. You love this person with everything you have. You try to protect them at all costs. But the whole world seems to be entirely against you.

Society isn’t kind to mothers. No matter the age a mother is, number of kids she has, whether she birthed them, used science to conceive, used a surrogate, adopted them, or like J.C, ‘inherited’ them, society is just not kind. Nevertheless, our own individual journeys are different, and no one gets to ever dictate what’s right or wrong for us in raising our children. We’re the ones who get to decide what our own definitions of ‘having it all’ means. We’re the ones who get to decide what we want our lives to look like. And we get to decide which path to take when the roads veer sharply from the map we had in our hands.

Can you even imagine balancing a demanding job and a child? It seems like a preposterous concept! Then again, however, I watched my mother do it. And not only did she have a child to take care of, but she had a DISABLED child to take care of. A lot of how I parent my son now has to do with how my own mother parented me. A lot of my decision-making has to do with the decisions my own mother did for me; as well as the mistakes she made too. In a way, my mother and I have gotten closer now that I’m a parent myself and have an understanding of what she’d gone through when I was growing. Nevertheless, I truly believe that she had a much harder than I do now. She didn’t have the community and the support that I do. Because she didn’t have that, she had to give up her entire career aspirations. She didn’t actually have to. No one forced her to do that. But for her to be fully present as a mother to a disabled child, she felt like she had to do so.

Despite my mom having to give up her career ambitions, she never was a stay-at-home-mom. For as long as I can remember, she always worked. Maybe not in the career path she initially wanted, but nevertheless, she always worked. It’s something that many women in the workforce, whether back when I was growing up or even now, don’t have an opportunity to do so. Mothers of disabled children often aren’t in the workforce due to intensive caregiving demands, lack of workplace flexibility, and societal expectations that devalue care work. The increased care and administrative needs of a disabled child require more time and attention, often clashing with the structure of paid work, leading mothers to reduce hours, take leaves, or leave the workforce entirely, as per a ScienceDirect article and an Ontario Human Rights Commission report. To break it down more thoroughly:

Intensive caregiving responsibilities

• Constant needs: Disabled children often require more hands-on care, supervision, and management than non-disabled children, which can occupy a full-time job’s worth of hours and energy.

• Appointment juggling: Mothers must often manage a heavy schedule of therapy appointments, doctor visits, and other specialized care, making a regular work schedule difficult to maintain.

• Childcare limitations: Many standard childcare options are not equipped to handle the needs of a disabled child, forcing mothers to stay home or seek out very specific, often limited, care. 

Workplace inflexibility

• Lack of accommodation: Many workplaces lack the flexibility needed for emergencies or appointments, and colleagues and supervisors may not be understanding of the challenges involved.

• Systemic issues: The lack of organizational support and legislation to help these mothers reconcile their caregiving and employment responsibilities creates significant “disabling barriers” in the workplace, notes Sciedu Press and University of Windsor Journal Publishing. 

Societal expectations and norms

• Devaluation of care work: Society tends to devalue unpaid care work, creating a “care crunch” where caregiving responsibilities conflict with the demands of paid employment.

• Gender roles: Traditional gender-role expectations often place the primary burden of childcare on mothers, which is reinforced by “specialization theory” that suggests women will specialize in unpaid domestic work while men become the primary breadwinners.

• Implicit expectations: There is an implicit societal expectation that mothers can and should set aside their professional lives to focus on their children’s needs, which is at odds with the demands of a production-oriented work culture. 

My mom was fortunate that she was part of a workplace that accommodated to her needs. But too many companies, even today in 2025, STILL don’t. This doesn’t just apply to mothers of disabled children, but mothers in general. Baby Boom showed that society is NOT on women’s sides whatsoever. It isn’t there to make women’s lives easier; only harder. Watching the movie now is only a reminder just how VERY little progress has been made since then. But it’s also a reminder that each and every woman out there has her own definition of success and ‘having it all’, and absolutely no one gets to ever dictate that for her. For some, it means being a stay-at-home mom and raising kids. For others, it means choosing not to have kids and focusing your time and energy on other pursuits.