I read the Slaughter article yesterday when you posted it and happened to come across this response by James Joyner while taking a break at work. Though the Joyner piece is obviously much shorter than Slaughter’s, I found that it highlighted many of the issues that I felt were problematic in the original article. Like Skylar mentioned, I thought Slaughter’s article was somewhat meandering and kept stressing the hope that “women can have it all,” when nearly every anecdote made it look like the closest thing to “having it all” was only a few steps away from miserable anyway. The Joyner article is a bit more cynical, and I guess I am too, which is why I like it better. Joyner specifically addresses Slaughter’s suggestion that women (and men) can maintain a better personal/work life balance if society changes—Joyner sees that “evolution” to be “impossible.”

“All things being equal, those willing to put 90 hours a week into their careers are going to get ahead of those willing to put in 60, much less 40. While there is any number of studies showing that working too many hours is actually counterproductive from an efficiency standpoint, there nonetheless is a rare breed of cat who can keep up a frenetic work schedule for years on end. And those workaholics are simply more valuable to the company, agency, or organization than those who clock out at 5. That means that those of us who choose to prioritize our children are going to get out-hustled by those without children, or those willing to let their children spend longer hours with a partner or childcare provider.”

Like Joyner, I would like to agree with Slaughter and see attitudes about careers move in a direction where a more fulfilling life is possible for anyone (male or female) that struggles to split time between career ambition and the desire to spend time on family or personal matters. For me, the most poignant illustration in the Slaughter article was the brief comparison between a working mother who must manage her time to care for her family and an athlete splitting time between work and training. Slaughter (using a rhetorical question) paints this picture such that the reader takes pity on the mother because she does the same amount of work as the runner without being championed in the same way.

I found myself fighting this imagery as I read. I did not pity the mother any more than the runner, but maybe that’s just because I know that I would view them equally as people who wanted to devote time to things they love. That said, I think that Joyner is right when he expresses doubt that “we'll ever create a culture that values family time as much as work time.” Even if work hours match up with school hours or companies make moves toward allowing employees to work regularly from home, there is always a tendency for people to compete in their careers. I feel like that tendency would be a harder thing to fight than Slaughter assumes and also something that is approached differently by every person.

-- AnneFox - 26 Jun 2012