Can women have it all? No way, Jose! [by David Lehman]

I just got the July / August issue of The Atlantic and note that the lead article, judging by size of type and prominence of cover placement, is "Why Women Still Can't Have it All" by Anne-Marie Slaughter. Can't wait to read it. Although as a man I can't recall the subject of "having it all" ever coming up in conversation with peers, I am willing to go out on a limb just this once and predict that in twelve months time, an op-ed column in a major metropolitan newspaper, or a cover story in a national magazine, will appear arguing the same or the opposite position using the first-person point of view and a sincere not to say heartfelt tone, and will elicit letters to the editor, or subsequent columns in other papers, saying (1) I thought I could have it all, but then my teenage daughter and eight-year-old son started acting out in school, and when I told my boss that I wanted to spend more time with my kids, she said wanting to spend more time with your kids is this town's euphemism for you got fired, baby, and by golly I realized then and there that you can't have it all, even though I am the chief operating officer of a Fortune 500 company, and I told my friend I was going to write this article and she said you of all people must not do so, or (2) This is news? No one can have it all, or (3) Feminism lied when it promised you could have it all, or (4) Feminism never promised you a rose garden, or (5) What about men? Is it still a man's world?, or (6) It is the hard cold sober truth that no one can achieve the ideal balance between family and career, because there always will be trade-offs, with sidebars on the American lifestyle, the fate of the "feminine mystique," the problem of teenage obesity, a historical recap of the Equal Rights Amendment, and a comparison between the differing expectations of American and European women? Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen before les jeux sont fait. -- DL

Comments

[Alan Semerdjian]

#2 (on your list) says it all, David. I, too, am eager to read the piece.

[Stephanie Brown]

You nailed exactly the reasons why I am not reading it. I'm completely over this discussion and all the attendant predictible responses. Does the question just inhabit different writers like a spirit and recreate itself via new conduits? I'm bored to even think about my own past compromises and those of my husband and family. I would hate to listen to myself talk about it!

[Laura Orem]

As Steven Wright said, "You can't have everything. Where would you put it?"

[helen readiness]

Well, I don't know about all that, but the thing that really gets me is women
ALWAYS leave the seat down after they go to the bathroom, they NEVER put it
back up, even though they might very well be sharing living space with a man,
and they KNOW he likes to play "aerial bombardment" on the cigarette butts in
the toilet. It's VERY inconsiderate.

[Jose Cuervo]

Yes way I say

[medyumlar]

Can I just sit in your chair, since you won't be there. You have a chair, right? I promise not to talk. I just want to sit and learn. This is my first and decided to go a couple of days ago and holy Moses I need someone to point to a chair and say, "just learn!"