I doubt many people lie in their deathbed wishing they'd worked more hours but I bet a hell of a lot wished they'd spent more time with loved ones.
Actually I think a lot of very high-achieving people are very satisfied with their achievements at the end of their lives and are ok with the sacrifices they made. I also think there are a lot of women of the generation before this one so maybe 70 plus who were more or less forced into staying home and it was made hard for them to have a life of achievement outside the home. Many of those women at the end of their lives would have loved to have been able to say they did more and achieved more. My mother was very happy with her life but there is no doubt she could have combined a career as well as rearing children. Unfortunately she was not sent to university like her brothers and was in a job with a mandatory resignation once you married. It is probably different for women who actively make a choice but I think it isn't as simple as saying the bit quoted.
I don't think many women really do make it possible for their husbands to achieve what they do at work. Those who have children with SN and trailing spouses are two that do, imo. Most others, make it easier to have the life as a family you want but for most high-achieving men, they wouldn't do what their wives do and sacrifice their promotions etc. They would simply hire in people to do those things for them.
Where I am in the US most of the high achieving men I know age 50 or less have equally high achieving wives. They do outsource a lot of childcare but I don't see their children as being any worse off than those children who have stay at home mothers. It is just different. I have one friend who had 2 nannies for one child. he and his wife had very high powered careers and that worked for them. Their kid is lovely, they have a great relationship, very involved, nice life, it wouldn't be for me but it works for them. It really helps that they can throw money at every issue - 2 lovely nannies who were paid very well, a driver, food delivered, nice holidays etc.
Most people aren't that high achieving though. They have jobs/careers that find it hard to take the cost of full-time childcare still less covering 24/7 care when you are both travelling. And not everyone wants that life. Isn't that ok to not want the same life as anyone else?
I also find it strange this obsession with achievement and contribution through paid employment. Most jobs are just that - a job needs doing and someone does it for money. Very few people are indispensable - even the rubbish collectors/sewage workers/doctors - there are generally more than one of them. The finance people who make the most money are the most useless in my opinion - just shuffling beans around to make more beans and occasionally washing all the beans down the sink by mistake. A person staying home might be contributing nothing to society besides providing childcare that otherwise might have to bought (which is surely as valuable as any other job out there unless we now officially think that nannies are worth less as people than bankers) but might be contributing a lot that is unpaid to the community too.
Rainbowsandsparkles I think you met Jolly at that party.