Redefining Our Roles is a Life Long Pursuit
Jane Pauley Urges Women to Reinvent Themselves at Denver Event
Pauley described being invited to address the 1990 graduating class at what was then Radcliffe College (now Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study) to talk about women’s issues and “having it all.”
“I told those bright young women with their aspirations that my definition of having it all was guilt, burnout and stress,” she said. “I don’t know if this was the message that Radcliffe was expecting. But I was a big ‘having it all’ debunker back in the day.”
She noted that women are still talking about “the balance myth” today.
But she urged the women —and men — in attendance to continue to work to redefine themselves and leadership roles in society, just as she has redefined her career and ability to influence others.
“I’ve long recognized that the power of other people’s stories can help us see our own lives in new and powerful and positive ways,” Pauley said.
Three Women Leaders Call for Workplace Revolution at the NEW Leadership Summit
“Anne-Marie Slaughter, the former State Department official and president and CEO of the New America Foundation, said in her opening keynote Tuesday that “feminism has stalled. [Women and corporate America] are all looking at what women should or shouldn’t do, which puts the onus on women to advance.”
Current concepts of caregiving and competition must be rethought, she said. “Flexibility makes companies better and more productive. The barrier is the stigma that attaches to those policies. We cannot change this unless people who take the flexibility are equally valued and considered for leadership. Nobody wants to talk about fighting the flexibility stigma.”
Commenting on Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision to limit flex work for her employees, Slaughter said the decision “made sense” for the business, but added that “the optics were terrible. You can’t build a nursery next to your office and then ban everyone else from having flextime.” She predicted that Yahoo! would eventually offer the work-from-home option again.”
