U. faculty couples discuss intersection of work and family relationships

Two couples, all professors at the University, reminded students of the importance of and challenges in balancing careers with family at a panel discussion on Monday.

The panel centered on a conversation between Nannerl Keohane, president emeritus of Duke University and Wellesley College and visiting professor at the Wilson School; Robert Keohane, professor of international affairs; Andrew Moravcsik, professor of politics and international affairs; and Anne-Marie Slaughter, president and CEO of New America.

Slaughter, a professor emeritus at the Wilson School, emphasized the importance of work in the household. According to Slaughter, household work is as essential and should be valued as equally as the work done for income.

Slaughter emphasized this message by using the example of her experience working at the United States Department of State in 2011, a position she described as having been her "dream job." She explained that during her time working at the State Department she began to reevaluate her conceptions of what it means to balance career and family. She realized that, as a parent, she wanted and needed to come home and be with her family. Thus, it was during her experience at the State Department that she came to understand what the balance between work and family should look like for her, she said.

Robert Keohane spoke about the unexpected ways life offers couples different opportunities at different times. To explain this point, he drew on his own experiences of adjusting and changing his personal choices in conjunction with his spouse’s career.

Moravcsik, Slaughter's husband, added emphasis to the idea that “men need to play a much greater role at home.”

Moravcsik referenced an article that he wrote earlier this academic year in The Atlantic titled Why I Put my Wife’s Career First.

Moravcsik concluded that though many people generally want egalitarian marriages, not all marriages work that way. He noted that not only women are constrained by social roles in the workplace, but that men are also limited by societal norms in how they feel their place in the domestic household should look.

Slaughter agreed that sometimes women can be “sexist” to men within the domestic sphere. She explained that many women believe that if they leave the traditionally domestic role solely to care for their husbands then their houses would fall apart. She noted that women need to reevaluate this stereotyping, since it can be just as detrimental to gender equality as sexism towards women in the professional sphere.

Moravcsik added that men are often feel reservations with regard to taking on a more domineering role in the household. He said this is a constraint that needs to be changed because “accepting the role of a lead parent is incredibly satisfying.”

Nannerl Keohane emphasized the importance of spouses taking turns in their roles within their relationships.

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In her own experiences with her husband, she said she has learned that spouses ultimately discover that they are really doing equally balanced work. She explained that spouses will become grateful to one another when they realize the amount of work that their counterparts do.

Both couples agreed there needs to be more conversation about different approaches to defining confinements of social gender norms within male-female spousal relationships.

The panel was titled “Life, Love, Work and Family” and was held in McCosh 50 on Monday at 4:30 p.m.