Palin Resignation: A Family Choice?

Does the exiting Alaska Governor prove that women have to make a choice between career and family life? Not at all

Illustration by Gerard Dubois for Time

Sarah Palin, the Technicolor Rorschach test, has a way of talking that leaves people unclear about what she said but certain about what she meant. Her Declaration of Independence included so many clauses — it's for the good of her family, her state, "it's about country" — that she invited people to hear what they wanted to hear. But there's a downside to projecting our instincts onto her actions, especially for women who, regardless of their politics, recognized Palin as a pioneer, leading the way into unfamiliar and potentially hostile terrain.

From the moment Palin appeared onstage last...

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