Telling Women's Lives

Unfinished Business – Luke Vith

When reading Unfinished Business I was constantly becoming more aware of the issues we have talked about in class at a more tangible level. Throughout the book I was shown various examples of how women are treated unequally throughout the workforce. While reading it I was constantly thinking of ways to correct these problems and when I finally reached the final chapter it was interesting to see how Slaughter thought the best way to go about change. With her public policy ideas such as high quality and affordable child care subsidized by the government I thought that this was one of the most realistic ideas we have been presented with so far this semester. I agree with her on the fact that we need to change the workspace to support caregivers as well as employees. This is essential to an individuals life. In many companies, which we have seen over and over again this semester, often times employees (especially women) are expected to forgo family life in order to work. This is a stigma and overarching idea that I think Slaughter is trying to get rid of. However, in order for this to happen the policy changes must come into effect first. With her idea of making this available at all wage levels it would help women who are working in service jobs all the way up to high profile business women. This would ensure equal treatment to all women regardless of social status or income. The availability to all working women would be essential to unite working women across the board and therefore solve this problem as a large group rather than many small ones at different incomes.