Transcript
0:03 I'm anarie Slaughter I'm the president and CEO of new America I have two sons who are 19 and [Music] 17 I was the boss and I insisted on being very honest about the fact that I was leaving faculty meetings at 6 to go home to see my kids that you could not ask me to do things between 6 and 8 and I did that to counter what I knew be the reality for most people which is that
0:32 you you're not supposed to mention your [Music] kids the women of my generation their view has been you have to outman the men and so often I have people tell me my boss is a man who has a daughter and he's great when I've had women bosses they're actually harder you cannot assume that because a woman is a CEO she is going to to make this issue a
1:03 [Music] priority when a woman has children uh it it negatively affects her career typically she makes less money she's less likely to get a bonus she's less likely to get promoted you know that is the motherhood penalty or you know yes the mommy tax when a man has children he often gets promoted gets a raise it is still a deeply ingrained assumption that her job is to care for the children and so because she's caring for the children
1:33 she's going to do a less good job at work his job is to support his family and now that he has a family to support he will be that much more motivated that is Leave it to Beaver [Music] thinking our policies assume that people have a full-time caregiver at home these are not women's issues these are parents issues every time you say women in family or or mothers stop and say parents parental we need a lot of
2:04 culture [Music] change I see Millennial men as our great hope because the millennial men that I work with really do expect to be fully engaged parents the other thing I see is a number of millennial women who are the principal Breadwinners they assume fathers can play either role lead bread winner lead caregiver or full
2:36 co-parent we have changed so radically in terms of the way we think about women now we need to think about men differently and think about parents and caregivers regardless of whether they're men or women [Music]
Summary
- Slaughter emphasizes the importance of openly discussing parental responsibilities in the workplace.
- Women often feel pressured to outperform men, leading to a lack of support for family-related needs.
- The "motherhood penalty" negatively impacts women's careers, while men often benefit from fatherhood.
- Current workplace policies are outdated, assuming a full-time caregiver is available at home.
- Slaughter advocates for reframing discussions from "women and families" to "parents and caregivers."
- Millennial men are seen as hopeful agents for change, expecting to be engaged parents.
- Many millennial women are becoming primary breadwinners, challenging traditional gender roles.
- A cultural shift is needed to recognize and support diverse parenting roles, regardless of gender.