Women may still not be able to have it all, but we can all help to make the workplace better for men and women.
The first thing we need to accept is that women struggling to balance family and career is not a “women’s problem”. Rather, it’s a “work problem” – and one that both men and women need to help solve.
And it’s a problem that ultimately sees employers miss out on “having it all”.
Overnight Anne-Marie Slaughter, the president and CEO of New America, and author of one of 2012’s most talked about essays, Why Women Still Can’t Have it All, addressed the Chicago Council on gender in the workplace, and shared some takeaways from her new book, Unfinished Business.
She said that the “work problem” we’re experiencing of women continuing to leave after having children – the one connected to the education and caring system that still assumes there is somebody at home, full time – is creating nothing but “corporate waste”.
Indeed, all that investment in education and training women goes to waste if organisations cannot support a culture that will truly support men and women who need to attend to other priorities in life.
From a CEO’s perspective, the extent of ‘corporate waste’ occurring should raise alarm bells. And yet for some reason, such CEOs don’t always hear the ringing.
Meanwhile, Slaughter also made the excellent point that if corporates fail to retain employees with caring responsibilities, then they’ll be missing out on extremely valuable skill-sets.
Referring to a 1971 philosophy book, On Caring, she raised the importance of the many different skills that investing in the caring of others can teach by enabling others to flourish. From a parenting perspective, that means teaching, guiding, encouraging, disciplining and supporting.
But it also means stepping back. When raising children – from toddlers to teenagers – you have to let them fall down, to make mistakes and learn.
Ultimately, all those skills a parent acquires are similar to those taught in management books, noted Slaughter. And organisations that fail to include care-givers in their workforces are missing a significant piece of the talent pie.
Finally on referring to some of the many changes we still need to address in the workplace, Slaughter added that “deep flexibility” must be pursued. That goes well beyond somebody leaving the office early to pick the kids up from school, to offering genuine flexibility around how and where an employee works. We must also remove the stigma that’s still attached to men and women who need to work flexibly.
Like Slaughter suggests, it’s clear the assumptions made about both genders need to change. While we might be raising daughters to believe that big careers are possible, many are still raising sons to believe their only option is to be the breadwinner.
So don’t assume a man wouldn’t want to stay at home with the kids.
Remember, there was once a time when men assumed that women wouldn’t want to work outside of the house.
Our employers could “have it all” when it comes to great talent. And yet the existing structures, cultures and assumptions about how we work continue to limit their options.
This is not a women’s issue. It’s everyone’s issue.