The Elusive Quest for Equality: Women, Work, and the Next Wave of Humanism

Articles are showing up in the news, specifically the Atlantic and the Wall Street Journal, discussing the persistent problem of equality for professional women in the workplace, specifically mothers. Anne Marie Slaughter, a Princeton professor who recently left her job at the state department due to problems with balancing her work and home life. As she questioned whether her job in Washington was doable and at what cost, she began hearing from younger women who complained about advice like Ms. Sheryl Sandberg’s, top executive at Facebook, who tells women that in order to get ahead, they must push “higher-harder-faster” and then women can have it all. Slaughter states that the Obama administration and top companies have failed to realize that the pressures facing women in the workplace are far different than those pressures facing men, even men that are fathers. This article argues this is the time for a new wave of humanism aimed at recognizing the key to equality is not just control over reproductive rights but rather recognition of the need for the life balance for mothers and caregivers. To fully secure equality in the professional workplace for women, there must be a focus on the needs of mothers in the professional workplace who play the caretaker role and the role of a career woman. To do this, the definition of equal rights must encompass the right of women to have both a thriving professional career and a healthy, engaged family life.