MNT2LEARN Leadership Primer Anne Marie Slaughter
Can We All “Have It All”?
Anne-Marie Slaughter has served as the Dean of Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and was the first female Director of Policy Planning for the US Department of State.
“Balance is a luxury. Equality is a necessity. When we stop talking about work-life balance and start talking about discrimination against care and caregiving, we see the world differently”
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
Anne-Marie shares that she made the choice to turn away from a work opportunity to spend more time with her family.
Have you ever had to make that choice?
She offers a new definition of equality - real equality doesn’t mean valuing women on male terms.
What do you think about that? How does that relate to you in your life?
Anne Marie believes that breadwinning and caregiving should be equally valued and that employers should support workers family needs.
Have you experienced that support or provided that support to others in your workplace?
What can you do to make that more of a cultural norm in your workplace?
Do you agree with Anne-Marie that women have more choices today than men? Do you know women who have given up opportunities? When you meet a man who made the choice to stay home, what do you really think?
Anne-Marie is optimistic that we are making some progress towards a new definition of equality where cultural norms are redefined. How are you contributing to this paradigm shift as an educator, partner or parent?
Additional reading
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/05/work-life-balance/590662/