I firmly believe life is all about making choices. We choose what time to wake up each morning, what we eat for breakfast, what we wear for the day. These are small decisions and we make several of them each day. On the other hand, we have large life choices. We choose what profession we decide to pursue, where we live, how many children we are going to have. It is these decisions that really form who we are. For this section, we read "Why Women Still Can't Have It All" by Ann-Marie Slaughter and we read about "Therese Carter" from Studs Terkel's Working.
First, in "Why Women Still Can't Have It All" Slaughter talks about how it is nearly impossible for women to balance a powerful, sturdy job, such as a CEO of a company, along with raising children. Now the feminist in me absolutely hated hearing this. I like to think, "YES! Women can do it all!" However that is not really the case. The realist in me knows that deep down, women really can't do it all. But I also think that men can't either. I think it is impossible for any human being, male or female, to balance working 40+ hours at a job each week, plus taking care of and raising a family, plus keeping up with all the housework, plus being able to get a good night's sleep each night. Women, more typically, choose a job that allows them to be home more often. Women like to put family over their career, most of the time. And typically, men choose work over family. Of course there are men that are "stay at home dads" and there are women that are extremely career driven, but in most cases men and women fall into these stereotypes. It all depends on the choices each individual makes.
In the Terkel interview with "Therese Carter," Therese is "just a housewife" (299). Although she describes herself as just a housewife right away, she goes on to talk about how she is happy with that. She says, "As low on the totem pole as I consider being a housewife, I love every minute of it" (302). She enjoys cooking. She enjoys having the house to herself to do her work while the kids are away. She also says, "Everybody has to feel needed. I know I'm needed. I'm doing it for them and they're doing it for me" (303). To Therese, she does have it all. She may not be working in a big corporate office, but she enjoys what she does.
In the end, life is all about the choices we make. It is important to make decisions that make you happy so you live a happy and healthy life.
Some thoughts...
Since it seems that Therese Carter has it all, whatever that means to her, does it poke holes in Ann-Marie Slaughter's argument? Doesn't that make her points less valid?
