WATCH: Slaughter on Why Women Still Can’t Have It All

Click  on the video below to watch Anne-Marie Slaughter talk to genConnect more about Yahoo’s new telecommuting policy, how the U.S. is lagging nearly every other country in areas such as maternity leave, and what else this country can do to better accommodate work and home life:

WATCH: Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg on Women, Career & Motherhood

Slaughter said she had a “dual reaction” to the recent decision by new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer to ban employee telecommuting.

Marissa Mayer

“As a CEO, if she doesn’t save the company, nobody’s gonna have any jobs to go to,” Slaughter says. “So I”m sympathetic to her need to change the culture … She’s a woman and the CEO but first she’s a CEO. That said, the optics were disastrous. You can’t have  nursery that you built so that your child can be there then tell other parents that they have to come in – many of them whom undoubtedly are teleworking in part because of their kids.”

Related: Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Mayer – Get Your Butt to the Office 

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Now she has a new article out in The Atlantic, “Work-Life Balance as a Men’s Issue, Too,” in which she talks about how many men also dream of having better work-life balance and have recently written to her to “bemoan the strong gender stereotyping that they encounter, whereby a guy who wants to take paternity leave, flex-time, defer a promotion because the job up has too much travel, or simply needs to leave at 6 every night to pick up his kid from daycare, is regarded as insufficiently committed to his work or else just ‘not one of the guys.’” She also notes that more men are speaking out about their role as “working dads” and how politicians should increase focus on fathers when they talk about trying to woo women voters, as well.

We connected with Slaughter to talk about work-family balance and the responses she received from her original article. Watch:

“While some men have said they too can’t have it all, women still bear the burden of not being able to fully balance a career and work life,” said Slaughter, Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and former Director of Policy Planning for the United States Department of State. She continued: “Men are still more able to have the career they want and have a family because there are still more women behind them taking care of those kids.”

Related: Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg on Women, Career & Motherhood

Slaughter’s article sparked great debate among working men and women who feel they each have a difficult time adhering to the obligations of a family and career. It also sparked debate among women – those with and without children. The article went viral with over 1 million hits in just one week.

WATCH: Andrea Mitchell Asks Maria Bartiromo: Can Women Have It All?

What do we need to do to create a better working and family life for people?

• Change the way you behave. Be honest about the trade-offs you’re making. That will change the culture and people will understand how many women and men are in this situation.
• Ask for what you need. ”The most important thing for all people juggling work and family is to say ‘I need a day working from home,’ ‘I need more flexibility in the afternoon,’ or ‘I need to be able to come in late two mornings a week,’” Slaughter said.

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We connected with Slaughter to talk about work-family balance and the responses she received about the article. Watch:

 

Anne-Marie Slaughter

Related: The ‘Career Woman’ Myth

“While some men have said they too can’t have it all, women still bear the burden of not being able to fully balance a career and work life,” said Slaughter, Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University and former Director of Policy Planning for the United States Department of State. She continued: “Men are still more able to have the career they want and have a family because there are still more women behind them taking care of those kids.”

Related: Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg on Women, Career & Motherhood

Slaughter’s article sparked great debate among working men and women who feel they each have a difficult time adhering to the obligations of a family and career. It also sparked debate among women – those with and without children. The article went viral with over 1 million hits in just one week.

The common scenario Slaughter describes is one in which more women step back from pursuing the career they want to take care of their family, often feeling as though they have failed professionally. “We have to recognize there are particular demands for working mothers and we need to change society,” she said.

WATCH: Andrea Mitchell Asks Maria Bartiromo: Can Women Have It All?

What do we need to do to create a better working and family life for people?

• Change the way you behave. Be honest about the trade-offs you’re making. That will change the culture and people will understand how many women and men are in this situation.
• Ask for what you need. “The most important thing for all people juggling work and family is to say ‘I need a day working from home,’ ‘I need more flexibility in the afternoon,’ or ‘I need to be able to come in late two mornings a week,’” Slaughter said.

These are the things working men and women can do to change their situations, but the government can help. Slaughter points to the Pentagon as an example of what the government should do on a greater scale; one out of every 10 days is a personal day for employees.

“We can ask for what we need,” Slaughter explained, “then there are things the government can do and there are things society can do to value these kinds of choices.”

• Take our poll below and let us know what changes you think would most help women – and families – when it comes to balancing work and home…

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genConnect was credentialed press at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo., where we interviewed the premier speakers and attendees at the conference. For more of our video interviews and articles from the Ideas Festival, click here.

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