The media has been abuzz with an excellent article by Anne-Marie Slaughter in the Atlantic on why women can't still have it all. It addresses the difficulties women face in having a work-life balance and it essentially suggests that while one of these sphere has got to give whenever time as a limited resource poses a constraint, women are more likely to compromise on this 'work' part of the equation than men. This, according to her, is a likely explanation for the lack of women at the very top echelons of the professional ladder. She contrasts this with the 'lack of motivation' hypothesis, which is being proposed by Sheryl Sandberg. (This hypothesis suggests that women are missing from the top because they are not driven enough, not motivated enough, than their male counterparts.) Anne-Marie proceeds to suggest few options work-places could adopt to make women more welcome and more likely to continue to grow professionally.
Some thoughts...
1. What does 'having it all' mean? Assuming we had a fixed appetite (our stomach's capacity) and we had two types of chocolates on the table - one a 'professional' chocolate and the other a 'family' chocolate. We could fill our stomachs with either one or both types of chocolates in any proportion and the amount we decide to fill of each type determines the extent of success in that sphere. (A side note: what does success mean.) Does having it all imply a 50-50 split in what we consume? If it does, one will definitely encounter people who'd have one type more than the other, some times to an extreme (a 100 to 0 split). Therefore, in any sphere, one is clearly going to find someone else more successful unless they have a 100-0 split in that field. (This is not to suggest that two individuals who give their 100 to their professional fields will be equally 'successful'. There are several other factors that determine that, assuming there is a definition of success we can agree on.)
2. To what extent does our society create a bias in the ratio of 'professional' versus 'family' chocolate we consume? As an illustration, these pictures from a 'Drop in and Play' center at a local shopping mall presents the following associations.... a play home has inside it a cooking range, washer, and dryer, and this home is pink colored. No guesses for knowing which gender is supposed to be at home.
3. Can men have it all or is it expected that they have a 100-0 in favor of the professional chocolate? Or is this notion of "having it all" fairly fluid and subjective?
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