Tow #6- Why Women Still Can't Have it all

Feminism is a big topic among people of all ages. It’s been used to try and encourage women that they are able to “do it all.” Women are being told that they can have a demanding job while also being a housewife and taking care of their kids. Ann-Marie Slaughter, who has worked in several high class jobs such as a professor and dean in ivy league colleges, a CEO, in the directory of policy planning for the US government, and is also a mother, disagrees with that feminist idea. She wrote her opinion in her essay, “Why Women Still Can’t Have it all.” Her essay was written to explain to professional adults that despite the feminist ideas, it is not possible for women to balance their careers and family life. She explains this in her essay using many different devices. Slaughter quotes many other women with prestigious jobs such as Jolynn Shoemaker, Juliette Kayyem, and Mary Matalin, to name a few. Something else all these women have in common is their lack of ability to care for their children because of their demandings jobs. Using these other women gave more examples and evidence for the points Slaughter was making. Another strategy Slaughter used in her essay was taking quotes people believed to be true and breaking them down in order to show they were false. She dispelled quotes such as, “you can do it if you’re committed enough,” and , “it’s possible if you marry the right person.” This went against the ideas some people have, where a women would blame themselves for their inability to do it all. I believe Slaughter was effective in her essay. She explained all the reasons that women can’t have it all by using real world examples and evidence. Although it is not yet possible for women (and men) to do everything they would like to do, I still hold out hope that it may become easier in the future.