“Having it All?”—The Wrong Question for Most Women

[redqueen]

http://www.womensmediacenter.com/feature/entry/having-it-allthe-wrong-question-for-most-women

As it has done at least once a decade for the past 40 years, the media seems intent on pitting women against each other in a "Having it All" debate about work inside and outside the home. Author and organizer Ellen Bravo explains why the discussion defies reality.

When Anne Marie Slaughter wrote her article for Atlantic magazine on “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” describing her decision to leave a top job for Hilary Clinton at the State Department, she acknowledged that she’s talking about a small sliver of elite women. “Millions of other working women face much more difficult life circumstances,” Slaughter noted.

But neither Atlantic, nor the New York Times, nor any of the other major media outlets that has run or commented on Slaughter’s article, spotlight these working mothers—the majority, in fact—who are struggling with daily hardships because our country does not provide basic policies that help value families in the workplace.

These women are not thinking about “having it all,” they’re worried about losing it all—their jobs,their children’s health, their families’ financial stability—because of the regular conflicts that arise between being a good employee and a responsible parent.

...

Silly media distractions. So tiresome. Feminist news sources are an absolute necessity.

[seabeyond]

1. i have found this so often, with the pittin of women against women.

i was reading something yesterday i think, that did that. i was thinking about it this morning. so much of it is manufactured. and we just do not see the same thing happening with the male gender.

[sufrommich]

2. Silly media distractions indeed.

"don’t think we have to wait for “a woman in the White House before we are able to change the conditions of the women working at Walmart,”

That's what I hated about the original article, I don't think highlighting women in posh jobs is really the crux of the problem. Most working women will never know such "problems". I love your source,I'm bookmarking it.