IMF chief Christine Lagarde says 'women can't have it all when it comes to juggling career and family life' - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde has said that women cannot have it all when it comes to juggling career and family life. Lagarde, the first woman to hold the post, said that anybody attempting to balance motherhood and a career should accept there would be 'failures'. "'I think you cannot have it at the same time. I think you can in a way have it all as long as you can afford to be patient. But you cannot have it all at the same time. You must accept there will be failures," the Daily Mail reports quoted Lagarde, as saying. As head of the IMF the 56-year-old is in charge of negotiations to save the Euro and bailout Greece . But she is also famous for her life outside of work and has been profiled in Vogue magazine and sat in the front row for Paris fashion shows. Lagarde, who divorced from her first husband and is living with her new partner in Washington, became a mother aged 30 when she was still trying to climb the ladder at Baker & McKenzie, and now tries to play an active role in the lives of her sons Pierre-Henri, 26, and Thomas, 24, who have not followed her into politics. A former synchronised swimmer, silver-haired Lagarde is still slim and 6ft tall and credits being in good physical health for managing her hectic life. She is currently ranked eighth most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in first place. During the interview when she was asked that, despite her power, were there men who treat her in patronising way. Lagarde said, "Oh yeah, of course. I don't want to embarrass them (by naming them)." "The best defence when that happens is a very good and solid sense of humour. At the end of the day, they are human beings as well. They have wives, they have daughters," she added.

Women can't have it all when it comes to juggling career and family: Christine Lagarde