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InterestingRead 5 - 27 Jun 2012 - Main.SherieGertler
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| | I'm sure that some of you have already heard about or read this article - "Why Women Still Can't Have it All", written by Anne-Marie Slaughter and published in the July/August edition of The Atlantic - but I thought I'd share it for those who haven't, as it provides some thought-provoking commentary on issues that both women and men face in striving to attain fulfillment at work and at home.
Slaughter specifically highlights the legal industry, built on the foundation of the billable hour, and discusses the unique challenges that this model presents for a law firm associate seeking to establish a work/life balance with which he or she is satisfied. | | | I found myself fighting this imagery as I read. I did not pity the mother any more than the runner, but maybe that’s just because I know that I would view them equally as people who wanted to devote time to things they love. That said, I think that Joyner is right when he expresses doubt that “we'll ever create a culture that values family time as much as work time.” Even if work hours match up with school hours or companies make moves toward allowing employees to work regularly from home, there is always a tendency for people to compete in their careers. I feel like that tendency would be a harder thing to fight than Slaughter assumes and also something that is approached differently by every person.
-- AnneFox - 26 Jun 2012 | |
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> | Courtney,
Thanks for starting this discussion. While the article raised some interesting points, I ultimately felt unsatisfied with the scenario that Slaughter set up. When I read this response by Lori Gottlieb in The Atlantic I realized why. As Gottlieb criticizes, Slaughter comes off a bit like a petulant child, upset that she can't physically occupy two places at one time.
As Gottlieb writes, "If you choose Harvard because you like Cambridge better than New Haven, you have to give up Yale and your love of its drama department. If you order the salmon entrée at your favorite restaurant, you have to forgo ordering the steak entrée that night. If you choose to have kids, you have to give up a certain amount of your freedom for the next 18 years. Not just career freedom, but marital, economic and social freedom as well. Order up what you want -- Harvard, the wild salmon, the kids -- but know that there's no such option out there called "having it both ways." Gottlieb notes, "This isn't a feminist issue. This is Life 101."
We all know that choices involve sacrifice, so Slaughter's shock at the notion that she would miss her kids will working long hours in another city did not quite resonate with me. What I did find interesting - and what I would have liked to see her engage with instead of tiptoeing around - was the concept that this dichotomy has a different effect on women than it does on men.
It is obvious that the current state of affairs of our workplaces, and the difficult choices we're forced into, distress Slaughter, as it should all of us. However, Slaughter also seems to emphasize "having it all" as spending time with the family + a high-powered professional position, whereas I've always been taught that having it all is more a measure of happiness and value add to society than salary and prestige. With the facts as Slaughter lays them out, it would be difficult for any woman with a family to ever be truly happy with her choices without feeling as if there are opportunities she's deprived herself of, and I have to hope that that isn't the case. Right? Or do you disagree?
-- SherieGertler - 27 Jun 2012 |
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