Telling Women's Lives

Unfinished Business – Madison Woodruff

I truly appreciated that Unfinished Business ends with a way we can solve these issues through public policy changes. As of now, as a woman, I am consistently told that I have to choose one or the other with family and career. I can strive to have it all, but inequality exists and that’s something I have to accept. Sometimes I’m told I can have it all if I work twice as hard as a man. More often than not, this issue is presented and women are offered internal or individual way to combat this issue, but we are rarely offered ways the system can change. Policy change is essentially the only way that the system can be entirely changed and this has often been ignored. This book presents tangible policies that can actually allow women to have both career and family. Offering that affordable and high quality child care be provided for anyone that needs it is an excellent way of allowing women to stay in the work force instead of feeling financial pressures to stay home with the children to avoid paying for child care. While I think this is essential for any career one may have, I also think that there must be a shift in mindset. There is often a negative stigma around sending your kid to child care instead of raising them yourself. While policy may be the first step, a change in culture is also necessary for a successful balance to be possible.