R: Women Can't Have It All

Women have made extraordinary gains in rights and opportunities over the past century. As the role women play in the public and professional spheres continues to expand, it remains true that many women choose motherhood. Can a woman fully devote herself both to career and to family? Defining exactly what full devotion entails (in both spheres) seems essential here. The contentious debate over gender roles is also at issue. Do women have a primary duty to children and the family? If so, whence does this duty arise? But alas, all this talk of duty and tradition…do we forget where we are? Yale College! Where our sisters make up half our number! Surely many of Yale’s women plan to start a family in a few years, but they just as surely want to put their liberal arts education to good use. Is it a waste of an education to be a homemaker? A stay-at-home mother?