Anne-Marie Slaughter

Anne-Marie Slaughter is a renowned author, professor, and public intellectual who has made a major impact on the topics of public policy, global affairs, and the workplace, particularly through her ground-breaking book Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family.

Slaughter was born and raised in North Carolina and attended Harvard College, where she graduated magna cum laude in 1980. She then attended Harvard Law School and graduated in 1984. After law school, Slaughter began her career as a professor, teaching at Harvard, the University of Chicago, Stanford, Princeton, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. While at Princeton, she served as the Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs from 2002 to 2009.

In 2009, Slaughter left her post at Princeton and took on a role in the Obama administration as the first woman Director of Policy Planning at the US State Department, where she served until 2011. Her State Department tenure and subsequent experiences led to Slaughter’s new interest in the issues of gender equality, family, and the workplace, and these experiences drove her to develop her ground-breaking idea of a ‘New Gender Equality.’

In 2015, Slaughter released the acclaimed Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family. In this book, she examines the current economic, social, and political disparities between genders, and offers a way forward to overcome these injustices. Her ‘New Gender Equality’ focuses on recognizing the inherent value of care-work and advocating for policies that make this type of work more possible for both genders. Slaughter argues that with these policies, women can have more active and influential roles in the workplace and at home.

Slaughter’s book has been applauded for its progressive call for gender equality and its deep understanding of current disparities. It has become required reading for classes on gender studies, public policy, and the workplace, and it has become an integral part of the modern feminist movement.

In recent years, Slaughter has gone on to write a number of additional titles, including The Idea That Is America: Keeping Faith With Our Values in Challenging Times and The Chessboard and the Web: Strategies of Connection in a Networked World. In addition to her writing, Slaughter is also a frequent public speaker, having given keynote speeches at conferences, colleges, and corporations around the world.

In her writing and speaking, Slaughter continues to advocate for a better, more progressive future, where everyone—regardless of gender—has the opportunity to reach their full potential and lead successful, fulfilling lives. Her powerful message and forward-thinking ideas have made her one of the leading female intellectuals of our time.