PRINCETON: Slaughter, Tilghman: Challenges for women at work

By Oren Fliegelman, Special to the Packet
   It is still nearly impossible for the modern woman to be both a full-time professional and a responsible parent, said Princeton University professor Anne-Marie Slaughter on Friday afternoon.
   Speaking to more than 500 students, faculty and community members in the university’s Richardson Auditorium, Ms. Slaughter and university President Shirley Tilghman held a public “conversation” about the challenges of being a woman in the workforce.
   ”We have formal equality, but we don’t have substantive equality,” said Ms. Slaughter, a professor of politics and international affairs and former director of policy planning at the State Department. “We’re stuck,” she repeated, “We’re stuck.”
   Ms. Slaughter wrote a widely discussed article this past summer on the cover of the Atlantic, entitled “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.”
   In it, she argued that professional norms make it very difficult for a woman to have a high-powered and fulfilling career while maintaining familial responsibilities. The article sparked a national conversation about a dedicated career woman’s ability to have a family, eliciting responses in newspapers and magazines across the country.
   Asked by Ms. Tilghman, the first female president of the university, whether she was surprised by the enormous reaction that the article received, Ms. Slaughter responded emphatically with one word: “Yes.”
   ”I thought I was writing for a relatively small and privileged slice of American women,” said Slaughter, “and the response has gone all over this society, but also globally.”
   Despite great inroads women have made in high-level careers since her mother’s generation, Ms. Slaughter emphasized that the perception of the woman is still that of the primary caregiver. For women to be able to enter high-level jobs at the same rate as men, the parenting burden must be shared more equally between couples.
   ”Can you have the career you plan to have and have a family too? The answer to that is men can still have that far more than women can,” said Ms. Slaughter. “When is the last time you heard someone say he’s a working father?”
   Ms. Slaughter related this to her own family, saying her husband, Andrew Moravcsik, a professor of politics at the university, has taken on a large portion of the parenting of their two sons. Without support and assistance from husbands, women cannot stray too far from the home, knowing they are leaving their children behind.
   ”My husband is a dad in a way that is really extraordinary,” said Ms. Slaughter. “He has an incredible relationship with our sons that I really think more men need to be able to have and explore.”
   A major obstacle to full female integration into the workforce is the rigid office schedule enforced in many jobs, said Ms. Slaughter. With new technology, such as high definition video conferencing, employers should allow workers to have more flexible hours so they can spend more time at home and with their families.
   ”There are lots of ways in which we can build in much more radical flexibility than a one flex day, once a week,” said Ms. Slaughter. “For men and for women, if you are a primary caregiver or an equal caregiver, the workplace is not set up for you.”
   ”Work has become life,” agreed Ms. Tilghman. “We are a country where work is becoming all-encompassing. Where the norm is to take fewer and fewer vacations.”
   Speaking to the female students in the audience, Ms. Slaughter encouraged them to become leaders, accept challenges and take risks. Only through empowering young females while in college can women become a growing presence in occupations dominated by males. A graduate of Princeton, Ms. Slaughter said she regrets not following this advice during her own college career.
   ”Dare to try. When I look back, I just realize, why didn’t I go out for the ‘Prince?’” asked Ms. Slaughter, referring to the university’s student-run campus newspaper. “When I look back, I think that was silly.”
   In the meantime, a man or woman who places child rearing at the top of their priorities is someone who should be admired, not looked down upon, insisted both women. The norms of American professional life need to change so those who give up careers for family are not considered to have failed.
   ”What is more important to this country than the raising of the next generation?” asked Ms. Tilghman, with loud applause from the audience. “Those who do it should be championed and not treated as though they were second-class citizens.”