History Main / CareerVersusMan

* This is the main conflict of ''Film/MyBrilliantCareer'': Sybylla wants to go into a creative field, even though her friends and family insist that the only way she can live is through marriage. She eventually finds the love of her life [[spoiler:and foregoes marriage to pursue her career as a writer]].
* In ''Film/TheRedShoes1948'', Vicki is torn between following her career as a ballerina and marrying a composer; the company's impresario Lermontov finds love to distract people from their true potential as artists, and her lover Julian worries that the devotion to career demanded of her will be her doom (ala the events of the fairy tale that gives the film its title and major dance setpiece). [[spoiler: She chooses marriage, but misses her career so badly that she tries to return to it over her husband's objections. Ultimately, she decides to Take A Third Option -- suicide.]] Interestingly, critic Danny Peary (in his book ''Alternate Oscars'') argues that [[spoiler: Julian is the bad guy in all this because his career is not halted by their marriage yet he won't let Vicki dance]]!
* ''Film/SomebodyIUsedToKnow'': Cassidy is upset that she has to break up her band because Sean wants them to settle in Leavenworth. Ally admits that she had also felt repressed by Sean's life plan and broke up with him to pursue her career. [[spoiler:In the end she encourages Cassidy to fight to keep her band while being married to Sean. Six months later, she sees an Instagram post that shows Cassidy is both pregnant and still touring.]]

* The quote is from the second half of the song [[Music/EltonJohn Elton John's]] song ''Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding'' and is a male example. A guitarist has to choose between his band and his love, he chooses the latter but both parties seem to regret the decision.

* In ''VideoGame/SixAges'', the magical power someone has is directly linked to how much they [[AnthropomorphicPersonification mimic a given Rune]], so the healing goddess Erissa has a sort of primeval version of this problem. Healers (that is, followers of the Harmony Rune) have to love ''everyone'' equally. They can't be biased towards a specific person, or a specific clan, or a specific species. People have to be able to trust that a healer will treat them fairly, that they will be as nondiscriminatory as the life that gives them magic. So [[ButIWouldReallyEnjoyIt poor]] Erissa ''can't'' get married unless she wants to give up healing, which obviously she doesn't want to do. (Although it didn't hurt that the guy asking her was a complete and utter jerkass.)

* Sometimes the woman chooses both out of necessity: in many countries the wife is expected to work in order to have an extra income, often essential just to make ends meet. Even among middle-class families.

* Albeit it's still a majorly patriarchal country, in Japan, there are more and more women who face this decision since roughly the '80s, especially women raised in big cities like Tokyo or Osaka. Many argue that the clash between the traditional Japanese women image and the increasing number in independent women (who, the most cynical say, men have a REALLY tough time accepting since it affects the traditional Japanese men image) is one of the main reasons of why the country has had such a dramatically low childbirth rate in the last few decades.
* One news story had a firefighter be in this position after marrying his boss' daughter because there was a rule prohibiting it, as the chief being the boss of a family member could be seen as a conflict of interest.
* Just watch any interview with the astronauts on the space station. Most of the men have a wife back home and 3 or 4 kids. The women are nearly all single and no children.

* ''ComicBook/StarfiresRevenge'': As romancing ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, Derek Marlowe tries to convince her to give up her burdensome super-hero job and live like a normal woman. As soon as he broaches the topic, though, Supergirl replies she cannot give up her responsibilities, whether she likes them or not; and if he wants her to choose him over her duties, then she must break her budding relationship.

* {{Invoked}} in ''ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse'': When Anthony married Therese, he assumed she would give up her career and become a housewife (despite the fact she ''specifically told him'' otherwise). He was wrong. This was treated as a clear-cut case of AmbitionIsEvil and a sign that their marriage was destined to fail to make way for Elizabeth.

* Norman of ''Theatre/TheNormanConquests'' by Alan Ayckbourn keeps trying to force this choice on his wife Ruth. She tends to choose "career," but he hasn't given up hope yet.