Women are sick of superwoman role models, according to a new survey. Women's Editor Christen Pears reports

PICTURE the scene. Self-styled Domestic Goddess Nigella Lawson is cooking up a culinary masterpiece in her kitchen. She breaks off to read a bedtime story to her children and then heads back downstairs to put the finishing touches to the meal and host a fabulous dinner party for 20 people.

Nigella may be able to carry it off but the rest of us can't and, according to new research, we're tired of being compared to unrealistic celebrity role models.

A survey commissioned by health and beauty magazine Top Sante in association with BUPA revealed that 94 per cent of working women in the UK have had enough of 'superwoman' role models who, they say, are not helpful to ordinary women struggling to cope with the demands of work, motherhood, partner and housework.

According to the survey, women are irritated by celebrities who do it all. Cherie Blair, who combines her job as a QC with looking after four children and being the Prime Minister's wife, topped the list of most irritating working women.

Juliette Kellow, editor of Top Sante magazine, says: "Superwoman type role models aren't at all helpful to ordinary working women with families who don't have an army of people, from nannies, personal secretaries, cleaners and hairdressers, to support them. Working women are heartily sick of these do-it-all role models. It's time for superwoman to be put back in her box."

The survey questioned 5,000 women across the country about their work and lifestyle and the majority of working mums said their family lives are being pushed to breaking point by demands in the workplace.

Nine out of ten said juggling their working and home lives was wearing them out while only 20 per cent said they would be a career woman if they had a financial choice.

In the North-East, eight out of ten working women said they would quit their current job tomorrow given the chance. Seventy-four per cent say their working environment depresses them and 81 per cent said they wished they could totally change their career.

The good news for women in the region is that they are most likely to be allowed a job share - 45 per cent compared to a national average of 31 per cent. Seven per cent said they had access to a company creche, which compares to a national figure or just five per cent.

But these small benefits do little to counterbalance the pressures and stresses of work.

Ms Kellow says: "Sheer exhaustion has ended women's enjoyment of the workplace. For many women, there seems no way out from a lifetime of stress trying to balance family and finances.

"And with a third of women now earning more than their partners, they can't just opt out or take a low-paid part time job. Many women long to be full-time mothers to their children but with the high cost of living in Britain today, this is a pipe dream for the majority."