Women In the Workplace: A Call For Change

The July/August issue of Atlantic Magazine presented an op-ed by former State Department Director of Policy Planning, Anne-Marie Slaughter, entitled “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All”. The op-ed quickly went viral, provoking a variety of responses. If the piece sounds a like an affront to some traditional feminist ideals, that is because it is. Slaughter draws from her own experience, explaining the mere impossibility of sustaining both her responsibilities as a mother with two teenage sons and a woman with a high profile government position.

But what now? Whether you side with those who believe one can “have it all” or whether you believe “having it all” is a naive wish, what action should take place to make the workplace more equitable?

Most women, will likely at some point in their lives, desire to have a child. Privileged women in executive leadership roles however, may have difficult priorities to choose from when contemplating children and striving to reach elite professional success. Traditionally, their male counterparts rarely faced the same problem but in our modern times, even that may be changing.

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