HAGAR Studies in Culture, Policy and Identities Vol. 11 (2). 105-126 “Why women still can’t have it all?” Israeli media discourse on motherhood vs. career EINAT LACHOVER ABSTRACT The paper discusses the Israeli media coverage of two American cases that aroused lively discourse in the Israeli media: Anne-Marie Slaughter, who left the United States Department of State in order to spend more time with her two adolescent sons, and Marissa Mayer, who as President and CEO of Yahoo gave up her maternity leave. The paper uses interpretive discourse analysis to examine all the items in the Israeli media that discussed these two incidents. The ideological discourse concerning motherhood vs. work revealed conservative trends toward the exclusion of men, and framed the issue as the problem of individual women and not as a political and social problem. Nevertheless, the research also revealed a complex representation of the mothering role. This included voices challenging the romanticisation of motherhood and the ideology of intensive mothering, proposing that the focus should be on the needs of the mother rather than those of the children. A possible explanation for this complex discourse lies in the Israeli cultural context, which encourages the dual ideal of a high birthrate and a productive working life. Introduction The July-August 2012 issue of American magazine The Atlantic published a 12,000 word article with the provocative title: “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.” The writer of the article, Anne-Marie Slaughter, served as Director of Policy Planning with the United States Department of State between 2009-2011. She left this position after two years and returned to her previous job as a university professor, stating she wanted to spend more time with her two adolescent sons, who had been adversely affected by her position. Slaughter’s article aroused a lively media discourse that continued for