Pak Tea House » Society, Women » Why Women Still Can’t have it all
Why Women Still Can’t have it all
Sumble Butt
There has been a lot of talk about women empowerment in the past half century and considerable efforts have been made at social, political and household levels to provide women better opportunities and rights in the society. The goal, however, has yet not been fully achieved and feminist debate that women still lag in provision of fundamental and superior rights. Recognizing its importance, eight out of fifteen Millennium Development Goals focus on women empowerment and hence it has become absolutely relevant for overall growth that women rights, abilities and opportunities are optimized worldwide.
I recently attended a forum hosted by OPEN Silicon Valley on Women Championing Women, in California. The Key Note Speaker at the forum was Katherine Spiller (Executive Editor of Ms. Magazine) who is an economist and researcher. She also holds the position of EVP Feminist Majority Foundation. Ms. Spiller walked the participants through the history of the Feminist movement and its effect on women’s activism on both social and political levels. She defined the term feminist in response to a question and urged women to stand up for women rights in small and big ways. Katherine in her presentation emphasized that the feminist movement is just not about personal empowerment instead it stresses upon collective empowerment. She also spoke about Ms. Magazine and its contribution in conducting research and investigative reporting on women issues. There were several other renowned speakers invited at the Forum who encouraged women to rise up to the leadership roles and not to shy away from bigger responsibilities despite challenges faced in balancing work and home life. While the discussion and the resulting debate sounded very encouraging, the question remains; “are women able to make smart trade offs and climb up the corporate ladder as aggressively as men?”
For working moms, managing their children is always a concern when jobs become too demanding.
Recently Anne-Marie Slaughter (Ex-Director of Policy Planning at the State Department) spoke about her experience as a high profile executive and the anxiety she went through in worrying about her children while she was away from home for work. In conversation with the editor of Atlantic magazine, Anne describes her own experience of stepping down from a high-level State Department position to teach at Princeton and spend more time with her children. Anne said in the process, she came to an uncomfortable realization: No matter what well-meaning feminists might say, women really can’t have it all. “Not today,” she writes, “not with the way America’s economy and society are currently structured.
So have women been buying into a myth for the past 40 years? Or has the next generation simply lost touch with the ideals of feminism?
The writer of the article is Sumble Butt. She has a Masters in Economics & Management and works as a Content Writer / blogger with OPEN SV. Sumble loves to read and write and her favorite subjects to blog include Business, Economy and Corporate development. She maintains her own blog on Face Book as “My Flight as a Writer”.
Filed under: Society, Women · Tags: debate, empowerment, social, Sumble Butt
10 Responses to "Why Women Still Can’t have it all"
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- Mohan
said Beware of scriptures. They can brainwash you.
The idea that everyone is equal or equal-valued and can have everything is bad and dangerous.
Any ideology that promises it will end up as a fascist dictatorship.
Civilzations need persons who don’t demand but who contribute.
If women teach their sons to respect womanhood and its functions and contributions and respect daughters and daughters-in-law then things will improve.
Actually a woman should be highly happy not to have to do what men have to do.
As regards rape – nature had told women to be more careful and cleverer than men.
I agree with bacon (what a haraam name for a Muslims to tongue on!!)
Women should not try to mimic the ways of men unless they want to be as dunce as them!
to AKB
Ok, I change my name from bacon to beacon.
On the one hand are women who wish to compete and quarrel with men over everything and destroy human civilization, and on the other hand are women who – like under islam – behave as their slaves and underdogs and thus strengthen the machoism, misogyny and fascism in this religion.
I am a working mom and not just working but working in field administration.. I learnt one thing in my past 10 yrs of work life..no one can have it all except support system of family and spouse. be it a man or a woman.
@ beacon
Thanks for adopting a beautiful pseudonym…
I love you as all women are created to be loved and cared for by men and not to fight with men to satiate their electra complex ( in Freudian term),
Boys will be boys, girls will be girls!
Women are the beauty of this world. they must not try to ruin their
grace and love by contesting equality with men. And men too should respect them, love them and care for them under all circumstances.
@ Quratulain
You are quite right. If you happen to visit any american or western social media you will note the frustration of women there….majority of them are broken families, single mothers, betrayed creatures who live on dole and are oppressed. As they get older they realize the wrongs they did in their prime days and now they turn towards God or Sufism…..
All this eventuated from their ambition to equate with men….and in the long run they lost themselves, their families and friends and suffer from loneliness and survive on dole.Stop them dole and all would die dog’s death!
Women In India…BBC
.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qm79g
however situation for women is much better now.
to AKB
Islam does not give women that what they really need. Islam only intimidates and insults them and misuses them for its fascism. If a woman lets herself be islamized then she ends up strengthening machoism, misogyny and fascism (esp. in islam).
@ beacon
You may be right in case of some Muslims but you are patently wrong in attributing the misconduct of some Muslims to Islam. Islam allows women total freedom provided they do not cross the limits set by their faith.
Only those women scream about Islam who are Muslim in name and deliberately deny the tenets of Islam. Those Muslim men who oppress women also stand with such women….in reality they do not practice Islam but some Muslimized version of their deviated thinking.