Conservative columnist George Will on Sunday suggested that women shouldn't complain about the difficulties of juggling a family and a career because "no one can have it all."
During a panel discussion on ABC News, host George Stephanopolous noted that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg had started a national conversation with her new book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, which argues that more women need to pursue their ambition to be leaders.
"Just look at one the reaction to Sheryl Sandberg's book has done," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) observed. "It is so hard for women to wear our ambition on our sleeve, to pursue our dreams, to believe that we can reach the top on any profession and that we should always shoot for the stars."
The Florida Democrat added: "And what Sheryl Sandberg has done for little girls -- my two daughters and little girls across America -- is written a book, a manifesto, that says it is okay to ambitious to, it's okay to want to have it all, that balance is important, but there is nothing wrong with trying have a full professional life and be a leader and succeed as a woman and also having a full family life. You don't have to choose. It can be both."
Will, however, used to an column in The Atlantic by Ann Marie Slaughter to push back against the notion that women should expect to be successful in their careers while raising a family.
"And when Ann Marie Slaughter causes a huge national uproar with an article in, I guess, The Atlantic that says women can't have it all after all, I've got news for her, no one can have it all," he quipped.
