THE H SPOT

What do women want? It's a time-old question, but if you head out into America and talk to women one-on-one, as Jill Filipovic has done, you discover that what they want is happiness. Despite what recent books, articles, or tv shows would have you believe, real women are less concerned about "having it all," "leaning in," or "settling for 'Mr. Good Enough.'" Unsurprisingly, the way to achieve happiness is as varied as the realities they face.

In THE H SPOT, Filipovic argues that the main obstacle standing in between women and happiness is a rigged system. In this world of unfinished feminism, men have long been able to "have it all" because of free female labor, while the bar of achievement for women has gotten higher - never before have we had to work so much at every level (whether it's to be an accomplished white-collar employee or just make ends meet), and never before have the requirements for being a "good mother" been so extreme. If our laws and policies made women's happiness and fulfillment a goal in and of itself, she explains, so many contentious issues would be resolved with one fell swoop-from women's health to equal pay.

Filipovic illustrates this argument by asking women across America what it is they need, Filipovic provides an outline for a feminist movement we all need: one that provides a blueprint for how policy, laws and society can deliver on the promise of the pursuit of happiness for all.

Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in Nairobi and New York City. A contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, she is also a regular columnist for Cosmopolitan.com, where she was previously a senior political writer. A former columnist for the Guardian, she is also an attorney, and her work on law, politics, gender, and foreign affairs has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, the Nation, Foreign Policy, and others. She was the recipient of a 2014 Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page Award for her global health reporting, and the winner of a Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi award for political commentary in 2014 and 2015.