Trawick 1
Aaron Trawick
English 101, Sec. 26
Professor Brown
13 October 2015
Who Can Have It All?
“Having it all” is a vague statement hard to define, and relative to the individual. What it
means to a person or group of people can vary greatly. According to Anne-Marie Slaughter,
author of “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” women can “have it all”, but not with the
current American economy and society. The way Anne-Marie Slaughter is using the term, she is
referring to a balance of a successful career and family life. However, according to Richard
Dorment, author of “Why Men Still Can’t Have It All,” no one knows what “having it all”
means, therefore, no one is able to have it all. The commonality between both articles is the
relationship to economics and society, and yet it is still difficult to define what “having it all”
means.
In Anne-Marie Slaughter’s essay, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” she describes
her struggle of trying to balance work and family life. Anne-Marie had a high-level government
position in Washington D.C. that made it difficult to spend time with her family. She states that,
“outside of those midweek emergencies, I came home only on weekends” (677). This would
have a huge impact on any family; kids need their parents. Slaughter decided it was best to move
back to her old job at Princeton, allowing her to have more time with her family and maintain a
high-level position. Although not the highest level achievable, she was able to “set [her] own
schedule most of the time… be with [her] kids when [she] needed to be, and still get the work
done” (680). It simply was not possible to manage a high-level position in the government and
Trawick 2
be equally as successful as a parent. The choice comes down to being successful in a high-level
position or as a full-time parent, not both.
In Slaughter’s opinion, “having it all” comes down to what type of job one has;
unfortunately, there are very few jobs that provide the opportunity to “have it all”. She believed
that this can all change by redefining the “Pursuit of Happiness”. Her solution is to “[l]et us
rediscover the pursuit of happiness, and let us start at home” (689). If jobs were redirected to
allow a balanced life, women would have a greater chance of achieving true happiness. A study
in 2011 by Ellen Galinsky, Kelly Sakai, and Tyler Wigton found that flexibility in the workplace
does in fact improve job satisfaction and other factors for the employee. Slaughter feels that,
“[g]iving workers the ability to integrate their non-work lives with their work will open the door
to a much wider range of influences and ideas.” (692). If studies continue to illustrate improved
