In response to Anne-Marie Slaughter’s Atlantic piece, Suzanne Turner asks: Does anyone else find the resounding silence from the guys in our lives deafening? I’ve been looking and looking for the dad’s voice—even, for goodness sakes, Anne-Marie Slaughter’s husband’s voice—in the epic dust up over the Atlantic Monthly cover story. It’s no surprise that bloggers and Tweet chats [...]
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Waiting for Superwoman: Is Work/Life Balance a Myth?
The Atlantic has done it again – ignited a controversy with an article about women and the workplace. Anne-Marie Slaughter’s piece “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All” is giving Hanna Rosin’s “The End of Men” a run for its is-feminism-bad-or-good-for-women-in-the-workplace money. There has been a lot of conversation lately about women in the workplace, [...]
“Having it All?”—The Wrong Question for Most Women
As it has done at least once a decade for the past 40 years, the media seems intent on pitting women against each other in a “Having it All” debate about work inside and outside the home. Author and organizer Ellen Bravo explains why the discussion defies reality. When Anne Marie Slaughter wrote her article for Atlantic magazine on [...]
Women’s Bodies: The Connection Between Title IX and Michigan’s Vagina Monologues Reading
All over the world, vaginas and what comes out of them are considered dirty – much like women themselves. In first world countries like the U.S., our periods are gross and embarrassing. In so-called developing nations, women’s periods and the health of their vaginas aren’t just disgusting – they’re evil and dirty. Some girls are [...]
Waging a Global War FOR Women
I just returned from the “2012 International Parliamentarians Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action,” an international conference in Istanbul focused on the global effort to make life-saving family planning and reproductive health care available to all women around the world. The clear message at the conference was that we absolutely know [...]
Adopted and Pro-Choice
Last week, TLC aired a special called Birth Moms in honour of Mother’s Day, documenting the experiences of three young pregnant women considering adoption. When I first heard about this show I, being an open and proud adoptee, was thrilled; in the current political environment where abortion is constantly in the hot seat, many other [...]
Undecided Women, Don’t be Fooled: Your Control of Birth IS ABOUT Jobs
Women, especially young childless undecided women voters, are talking about jobs, not abortion rights, right? What women really care about is not contraception, not access to family planning resources, not social issues like gay marriage, abstinence-only sex “ed” or Mitt Romney’s 50 year old bullying. Nope – it’s the economy. Women, “like everyone else,”– that [...]
She’s Earned It: Entitlements for Stay-at-Home Moms
I don’t agree with Mitt Romney often, but his words to his wife Ann ring true. He told her years ago, checking in from the office while she was raising their children at home. “Ann, your job is more important than mine.” And he’s right. Raising children and keeping a household is very important for [...]
Is it Really a Happy Mother’s Day?
It is difficult being a mother. Mothers bear the brunt of burdens, plainly seen if you take a look at the measly ratings the United States received from the recently published Save the Children State of the World’s Mothers. Not only does the country rank 25th on the list of Best Places to be a Mother, it [...]
Bridal and Baby Showers: Tradition or Torture?
Are the all-female wedding and baby showers a necessary evil to rack up on gifts? Or are they painful reminders of our inadequacies? Lyla Cicero explores the tradition. There are few things women feel more ambivalent about than bridal and baby showers. I think it’s in part because in their traditional form, showers are places [...]