Having It All · Episode 10 of 10 · 23 min
The Verdict: Luck Was an Equal Partner With Effort
No valid statistic says how many women had it all, and the figure circulating online has no research behind it. The evidence shows that trade-offs were nearly universal and satisfaction is high anyway. The series' verdict is that where institutions refuse to underwrite a promise, luck fills the gap: the promise wasn't wrong, it was unfunded.
Who's who
- Anne-Marie Slaughter+1 more episodePrinceton scholar whose 2012 Atlantic essay declared women still can't have it all
- Sylvia Ann Hewlett+1 more episodeEconomist who documented childlessness among high-achieving women
- Arlie HochschildBerkeley sociologist of The Second Shift
- Betsey Stevenson+1 more episodeEconomist, co-author of 'The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness'
- Justin WolfersEconomist, co-author of the 2009 happiness paradox paper
Timeline
- 1963The Feminine Mystique and the Equal Pay Act open the promise era
- 1974Equal Credit Opportunity Act passes
- 1989Hochschild's The Second Shift appears
- 1993Family and Medical Leave Act signed
- 2009Stevenson and Wolfers publish their happiness paradox paper
- June 2012Slaughter's 'Why Women Still Can't Have It All' appears
Still debated
No research supports any 'percent who had it all' figure. Hewlett's childlessness numbers describe elite women only, and high late-life satisfaction scores are limited by survivorship and adapted expectations.
