With the continued reverberations of Anne-Marie Slaughter's article "Why Women Still Can't Have It All" on why high-achieving American women still struggle to combine motherhood and work, it's time to look at the debate from a global perspective. Is "having it all" a global aspiration for working moms? And how far do they feel from that goal?
The International Museum of Women, a global online museum, asked working moms all over the world about their experiences for a new online gallery, Mama's Work. For most of these women, combining work and motherhood is often more a matter of "getting by" than "having it all." Yet many of them -- like Ms. Slaughter -- also call for the world which is fairer to working moms, and to the world's dads and kids too. It's time for a global manifesto for working motherhood.
So what are the world's working moms asking for?
- Survival. For many -- or even most -- of working moms globally, work is about survival, and the ability to feed and house themselves and their families. From mothers working in India's salt mines (photographed beautifully in our exhibition by Pattabi Raman) to teen mothers living in the slums of Kenya (documented by Rachel Ouko, another teen mom), the world's mothers' most basic need is for paid opportunities that will help them and their families survive. They should have a right to expect that that work will help them grow and thrive, too.
Anne-Marie Slaughter's now-famous comment about working motherhood is that "having it all... [is] airbrushing." We found that the true global experience of working motherhood is certainly more complex and more multi-layered. The words, art, photographs, and personal stories we illuminate show very few (if any) of the world's mothers who would say they "have it all". Today's story of global motherhood is about struggle and compassion, love and tenacity, fulfillment and frustration. It is also a story of unfulfilled hope and potential.
When the world starts to hear the global voices of working moms, all us will be closer to a world which is more equal and fairer, because it recognizes and unleashes the potential of all parents, women and men. That aspiration, rather than 'having it all" should be at the heart of all of our endeavors.
Mama's Work is a gallery of the International Museum of Women's online MAMA exhibition.
The Museum has teamed up with Every Mother Counts to develop an online Maternal Health Pledge to spotlight the urgent issue of maternal health for moms around the world.