Work And Gender Analysis

In today’s economy, it is a hard fact that many women will have to enter the workforce. In her article for The Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can’t have it All”, Anne-Marie Slaughter examines the difficulties faced by women who either have children or would someday like to do so. Having given up on the task of holding a high powered government position while being the mother of a teenager, her kairotic moment, the author discusses the changes that would be necessary in order for women to find a real work-life balance. Although Slaughter 's target audience is primarily women who seek high powered positions, the article contains ample information that should appeal to both men who seek to balance the needs of a growing family with their work responsibilities, as well as workplace policy makers who could help usher in the necessary changes. Her goal in sharing her experiences is to argue that women can succeed at the very top level of their organizations, “But not today, not with the way America’s economy and society are currently structured” (Slaughter).

In her article “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” Anne-Marie Slaughter comes to the conclusion that women can have it all, but the present structure of today’s society has made it unfeasible. Slaughter, a high-profile government employee, was appalled when she received supercilious and demeaning remarks regarding her stepping down; ultimately choosing her family over her career (Slaughter). Choosing family may be an easy choice for some, but when today’s society has placed an exceeding amount of value in ones career, some are faced with an unimaginable decision. For women to finally have it all, a family and a career, Slaughter argues that we must rediscover the pursuit of happiness, redefine what it means to be successful, and reacquire family values.

A woman has many decisions and sacrifices to make when balancing work and family. Ann-Marie Slaughter is the author of “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” where she explains what it is like to hold a higher ranking position and have children at home. She begins by building her credibility with personal facts and sources, citing other women in younger and older generations. Slaughter fills her essay with high emotion to empower women to be able to have a higher profession without giving up the time with the ones you love. She describes what it is like to lead her business life, and struggle to guide her children, when she doesn’t even have time for herself.

In our society, we carry an ideological assumption that a “normal” family consists of the man working to provide for the family and the women takes on the role of stay-at-home mom (Dow 1992).

More modern women no longer subscribe to the idea that they should only aspire to be housewives. This movement, which began in the 1940s, is hailed as the rebirth of feminism. Women entered the workforce to replace their husbands who had been sent off to fight in World War II. As a result, their work in factories and shipyards challenged the gender norms of that time period, and thus paved the way for future generations to come (“The Women’s Movement—Our History,” 2005). Today, in lieu of Rosie the Riveter, women and girls have many professional role models to look up to. Nonetheless, it remains imperative that the structure of the workplace changes to accommodate a more balanced gender ratio, but this is not always possible within the current patriarchal framework. Gender equality in the workplace has not yet been achieved despite the successes of elite women. However, as small progressions are being made, it is a recurring debate among feminists whether or not the ambitious woman can “have it all.” Sheryl Sandberg expounds on this idea in her book Lean In, believing it possible if a woman has enough determination. Other esteemed women, such as Anne-Marie Slaughter and feminist scholar bell hooks dissect her arguments in their respective works “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” and “Dig Deep: Beyond Lean In,” both coming to the conclusion that women and men must first be liberated from the institution. Richard Dorment, author of “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All”, bases his

In Anne-Marie Slaughter’s essay “Why Women Still Can’t Have It all,” Slaughter wants to incorporate her professional success and family to have a balanced life. Slaughter is the president and CEO of the New American Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute and has worked as director of policy planning for the U.S. State Department. Slaughter is concerned about not being a supportive mother to her children because of work issues. Her career requires her to work for long periods of time while juggling reports and writing commentaries on drafts, leaving little room to spend time with her family. I agree that working in a high position job can have a negative effect on how most women view their success because they are constantly working without being able to put their energy to something they value-family.

In the article " Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid " written by Sheryl Sandberg, a Chief Operating Officer at Facebook and previously Vice President of Google and Chief of Secretary of Treasury, Sandberg discuss the expectations placed on women in the work arena. Most men work in an expert setting, though women tend to work full or low maintenance and are, notwithstanding staying at home to be a mother. Discuss how a woman should have it all, a profession, a family, and an education, but society consequently made women feel as though they aren't made to finish such things. She cites Judith Rodin, President of Rockefeller Foundation: “My generation fought so hard to give all of your choices. We believe in decisions. But choosing to leave the workforce is not something we thought so many of you would make “(645). Ladies should work 40 hours per week and return home and deal with their children, essentially working a second full-time work. This brought on numerous women to lessen their hours or leave the workforce.

Stephanie Coontz, author of “Why Gender Inequality Stalled,” emphasizes on how women are still challenged in today’s society about inequality of women wanting to have a career and raising a family instead of staying at home to care for her family. Women making the choice to have a baby and have a career is often frowned upon. According to Coontz, “when they become mothers, they face more scrutiny and prejudice on the job than fathers do” (7). In a two family household, mothers often have to take off work to care for their children in case of emergencies than fathers do. In single household families, mothers are full time parents and have a full time job.

I’ve spent my whole life trying to please my parents, praying I don’t disappoint them. They came to this country to have a better life for their children and I couldn’t let their hard work and suffering go to waste. Only my mom had gone to college but despite that, she had never actually worked here in the U.S. because of her lack of knowledge on the English language. With my dad being the only one working, out of town, three hours away at that, earning only minimum wage, my family and I were limited to the very essentials. When I got to middle school everything started to take a turn downhill. I was starting to need more money, whether it was for school supplies or for clothes and I felt horrible asking my dad for more.

In another study, “The Working Wife: Differences in Perception among Negro and White Males” the results showed that “the white male less inclined to believe a wife should work outside the home, he was more likely than the Negro male (w = 66.5 percent; N = 53.7 percent) to define the wife's employment as having a potentially detrimental effect on school-age children.” (Axelson 458) Therefore, the outcomes of this study have shown that it is possible for there to be differences in opinion based on race on the working mother. In addition, since the respondents are from the United States each country has their own laws about paid leaves for new mothers. The United States does not have paid leaves for new mothers unlike other industrialized countries. For example, “Sweden offers nearly a year and a half of 80% paid leave for mothers and fathers while breastfeeding rates there far exceed those in the United States (In the United Kingdom, many women are eligible for up to 52 weeks leave at 90% pay.” (Turner 398) Therefore, paid

Is it really possible for women to have it all, both satisfying career and family life simultaneously? In the following sentences ahead Sheryl Sandberg and two of her contemporaries will try to answer if it is possible for women to have it all. Sheryl Sandberg is the author of, “Lean in: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?” and currently, CEO of Facebook, believes women can really have it all. Growing up in a Jewish family being reminded of the equality of boys and girls, all the while traditional values of marriage were very prevalent. At a young age, Sandburg was married and divorced within one year, unlike her grandmother (649). Sandberg draws her inspiration from her grandmother because of her continuous work ethics in a time

The initial answer is that women today can not simply give up their roles of motherhood and wife because they have gained ground outside the home. Household and child care responsibilities still apply to women even if she wakes early to start her 9am job and doesn't return home until 5pm. Yet, this answer is inherently problematic. The responsibilities discussed above should not mean an inequitable amount of time spent on her children and family as compared to her husband. House-hold responsibilities should not result in less sleep than her husband and having less time

A working women life can be crazy and fast paced. It is making list with things that are never crossed off (Employed Mothers and their Children, pg. 108). A working mom needs help from an inner and outer force. It is very hard to carry the responsibilities of the family on their shoulders, just as it is hard for any one person to absorb all the responsibilities of there whole family on herself. However, it is so much harder for women to do so with the world being set up for men to take the lead. Most jobs lean toward the male gender. Not saying that jobs are set for one specific sex, but jobs available through companies seem to structure the job force to suite and work for men.

Throughout history women have endured terrible injustices due to societies views and male domination. One of the most restrictive issues has been the perception of women in professional roles. In Andersen’s Thinking About Women the traditional view of women’s work involved them staying home where they “were seen as having a moral calling to serve their families” (Andersen, 2011, p. 118). These views, unpopular as they may be, still exist today. Incredible women such as Margaret Floy Washburn and S. Josephine Baker provide valuable insights into what it was like to attempt to break from the norm and pursue professional careers in male dominated fields of the time. A modern perspective form Anne-Marie Slaughter also helps demonstrate how this tradition of discrimination against women in the workplace has greatly changed during recent times.

Although i disagree i believe splitting everything down the middle, that puts the stress on both parents instead of one. i disagree with her theory because fathers don 't like doing womanly things. I don 't see a father coming home cooking dinner after a long 12 hour shift at work. Nor can mom if she worked the same hours. If both parents work who has time to do anything when they do get home. Their too tired to interact with their family which will take a toll on the children. If both parents are taking on the roles how do they determine who 's spending more time with the children? How do they decide who picks up one week to the next ? About four-in-ten full-time working mothers say they spend too little time with their kids. By comparison, 18% of part-time working mothers and 11% of non-working mothers say the same. For their part, working fathers are significantly more likely than working mothers to say they spend too little time with their children – fully half of full-time working fathers say this is the case.