Article on 'Having it All' generates buzz

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WASHINGTON, June 25 (UPI) -- A former U.S. State Department employee says she is surprised by the reaction to her article doubting whether women can mesh motherhood and high-powered jobs.

Anne-Marie Slaughter's article, "Why There's No Such Thing as 'Having It All' --and There Never Will Be," is the cover story in the July/August issue of The Atlantic. Since it was published last week, the magazine reports it has been read by 725,000 people and been "liked" 119,000 times on Facebook, an Atlantic record.

"I knew it would strike a chord, because I teach younger women and every time I've given a preview of the piece, women have said 'I'm so glad you're writing it,'" Slaughter, 53, told The Washington Post. "But hundreds of thousands? I didn't think it would bring about a symphony overnight."

Slaughter's major point is that changes in society must be made for working mothers.

Emily Sandler, 25, a fundraiser in Redondo Beach, Calif., said she found it "depressing" that the woman who wrote "A New World Order" is having trouble combining family and career.

"If it can't work for her, how will it ever work for us lesser mortals?" Sandler asked.

Richard Gurley, 33, who works at a healthcare start-up in Washington said he e-mailed the piece to his fiancee. He said what Slaughter said was not new but her being so public about it has started a conversation.

Slaughter, who served as director of policy planning at the State Department from 2009 to 2011, has now returned to the academic world at Princeton University.