Telling Women's Lives

Unfinished Business’ Reader’s Response, Helen

Anne-Marie Slaughter expresses hope for workers and managers to decide, separately, and together, to create an environment that allows everyone to fit care and career together in ways that benefit both. In this discussion issues are raised such as gender wage gap, general problems with hearing women’s voices in the work force, policies on maternity leave/raising children and working, and the expanding social structure of work-family tension in the household. In my opinion, it is important to not only address these issues but to solve them quickly. There are numerous platforms that advocate for women’s rights in the work force, however, going directly to the source is tough. How do you convince a boss, coworker, or spouse that they should give women less time off during maternity leave, to fully listen to a female’s perspective during office hours, and to advocate for female’s being the breadwinner in the family. It is tough to change fixed opinions, but the more platforms (such as organizations, books, movies, etc.) that display these belief systems will hopefully increase this open discussion for cross-cultural intersection of women’s rights. Wake Forest WGS professor Wanda Balzano writes, “…change comes when you work towards it.” Slaughter writes, “it’s the workplace, not women, that has to change.” I found this to be interesting. I personally think that it takes both a women’s internal voice and the workforces voice in order to change, not just one. Women need to be more vocal and confident with their voices in their movement—although it is important to get a field of work to change. I think they are equally important in this movement.