Are the rumors true? Can you not have a career and be a successful mother at the same time?
We don't know. But it's hardly surprising that, according to a 2004 Department of Labor survey, working women spend about twice as much time doing household chores and caring for children as working men. As women move toward a position of greater equality in the workforce and men assume more responsibility at home, we have to ask ourselves whether the responsibility of raising a family still rests primarily on women, and if so, what does this mean for women who want careers?
Over the summer, the New York Times published an article written by Louise Story about a survey she'd conducted that found that many women in the Ivy League were planning on giving up careers to have children later in life.
Dana Goldstein '06 did a follow-up article for The Herald in mid-October, in which she interviewed approximately 25 female undergraduates. Not one woman she approached declined to be interviewed. Goldstein wrote "rarely have I interviewed people on a topic about which they were so eager to speak." She closely profiled three Brown women and found that concerns about financial independence had already sparked much discussion among them.
In response to the article, Professor Rose Subotnik of the Music Department wrote a letter to the editor. "Surely a number of women at Brown, from President Simmons on down, have combined attractive careers with bringing up children. Perhaps undergraduate women would be interested in the information and advice that such women could give them," Subotnik said. "I, for one, would enjoy drawing on my own experience to mentor students in this way."
The lack of dialogue between generations of women garnered more national attention in Maureen Dowd's eight-page op-ed in the New York Times Magazine. " If the new ethos is 'a woman needs a career like a fish needs a bicycle,' it won't be healthy," quipped Dowd. She discussed women's unique new position in society when she said: "Little did I realize that the feminist revolution would have the unexpected consequence of intensifying the confusion between the sexes, leaving women in a tangle of dependence and independence as they entered the 21st century."
Given this increase in local and national dialogue, it was hard for us to avoid the obvious. This semester a group of students is going to start a forum involving female faculty and women in the Rhode Island community. We further intend to expand the dialogue to include female professionals by industry, as well as women who decided to stay at home.
So far, we've been met with overwhelming enthusiasm about our idea for a forum on women's career issues. People have volunteered to help with mundane tasks like table-slipping the Sharpe Refectory. Students have confessed to speaking about the issue to their group of friends, but everyone they talk to is the same age, asking the same questions about the same issues.
When we suggested the idea to female faculty their enthusiasm was just as sincere. Many had watched young women in frustration, pondering their students' lack of knowledge a to the challenges ahead. Most were more than enthusiastic to share their experience with this new generation.
So what choices are young, well-educated women faced with? If they want a successful career, does that mean sacrificing family, or just cutting maternity leave? If they want to concentrate on family does that mean they'll never be able to have a real career?
These questions will affect both women and men for years to come. While there has been progress, recent dialogue suggests that the balance of career and family is still very much a women's issue. And we hope that this forum, Women in the World, will facilitate the mentoring and support of Brown undergraduate women as they face the challenges of balancing careers and family.
Sunisa Nardone '07 invites you to 'Women in the World' for their kick-off event, "Dessert and Dialogue" tonight at 7:00 p.m. in the Crystal Room in Alumnae Hall.
