Lean In

Sheryl Sandberg—2013

Introduction: internalizing the revolution.

To this day, I’m embarrassed that I didn’t realize that pregnant women needed reserved parking until I experienced my own aching feet.
A meager 21 of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women.
The promise of equality is not the same as true equality.
In 2011 McKinsey report noted that men are promoted based on potential, while women are promoted based on past accomplishments.

Chapter 1: the leadership ambition gap. What would you do if you weren’t afraid?

Girls are increasingly outperforming boys in the classroom, earning about 57% of the undergraduate and 60% of the Masters degrees in the United States.
In 2012 McKinsey survey of more than 4000 employees of leading companies found that 36% of men wanted to reach the C suite, compared to only 18% of the women.
From the moment we are born, boys and girls are treated differently. Parents tended to talk to girl babies more than boy babies. Mothers overestimate the crawling ability of their sons and underestimate the crawling ability of the daughters. Reflecting the belief that girls need to be helped more than boys, mothers often spend more time comforting and hugging infant girls and more time watching infant boys play by themselves.
Other cultural messages are more blatant. Gymboree once sold onesies proclaiming “smart like daddy” for boys and “pretty like mommy” for girls. That same year, Jc Penney marketed a T-shirt to teenage girls that bragged, “I’m too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me.”
From a very early age, boys are encouraged to take charge and offer their opinions. Teachers interact more with boys, them far more frequently, and ask them more questions. Boys are also more likely to call out answers, and when they do, teachers usually listen to them. When girls call out, teachers often scold them for breaking the rules and remind them to raise their hands if they want to speak.
Compounding the problem is a social psychological phenomenon called “stereotype threat.” Social scientists have observed that when members of a group are made aware of negative stereotype, they are more likely to perform according to that stereotype. For example, stereotypically, boys are better at math and science than girls. When girls are reminded of the gender before a math or science test, even by something as simple’s checking off an M or F box at the top of the test, they perform worse. Stereotype threat discourages girls and women from entering technical fields and is one of the key reasons that few study computer science.
And these characterizations have moved beyond fiction. A study found that of millennial men and women who work in an organization with a woman in a senior role, only about 20% want to illuminate their career.
27% of Latino children and 52% of African-American children are being raised by a single mother.
Of all the industrialized nations in the world, the United States is the only one without a paid maternity leave policy.
In 2009, ‘getting to 50-50’ was published, this was a comprehensive review of governmental, social science and original research that led them to conclude that children, parents and marriages can all flourish when both parents have full careers. The data plainly reveals that sharing financial and childcare responsibilities lead to less guilty moms, more involved dads and thriving children.

Chapter 2: sit at the table.

When I gave a Ted talk on how women can succeed in the workforce, I told this story to illustrate how women hold themselves back.
Ask a man to explain his success and he will typically credit his own innate qualities and skills. After woman the same question and she will attribute his success to external factors, insisting she did well because she “worked really hard,” or got lucky, or “had help from others.” Men and women also differ when it comes to explaining failure. When a man fails, he points to factors like “didn’t study enough” or “not interested in the subject matter.” When a women fails, she is more likely to believe that is due to an inherent lack of ability.
Research backs up this “fake it till you make it” strategy. One study found that when people assumed a high power pose, just like Superman or wonder woman, for just two minutes, the dominant hormone levels went up in their stress hormones went down.
It’s a cliché, but opportunities are rarely offered; they are seized.
Cisco’s chief technology officer was asked, “What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from a mistake that you’ve made in the past?” She replied, “I said no to a lot of opportunities when I was just starting out because I thought, that’s not what my degree is in or I don’t know about that domain. In retrospect, at a certain point it’s your ability to learn quickly and contribute quickly that matters. One of the things I tell people these days is that there is no perfect fit when you’re looking for the next big thing to do. You have to take opportunities and make the opportunities fit for you, rather than the other way around. The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have.
I figured she was about to tell me how my words had touched her. Instead, she said, “I learned to keep my hands up.” She explained that towards the end of my talk, I had said that I would take only two more questions. I did so, and then she put her hand down, along with all of the other women. But several men kept their hands up. And since hands were still waving in the air, I took more questions— only from the men. Instead of my words touching her, her words hit me like a ton of bricks. Even though I was giving a speech on gender issues, had been blind to one myself. If we want a world with greater equality, we need to do knowledge that women are less likely to keep their hands up.
We need institutions and individuals to notice and correct for this behavior by encouraging, promoting and champion more women. And women have to learn to keep their hands up, because when they lower them, even managers with the best intentions might not notice.

Chapter 3: success and likability.

They started with the Harvard business school case study about a real-life entrepreneur named Heidi Roizen. The case described how she became a successful venture capitalist by using her “outgoing personality… Vast personal and professional network that included many of the most powerful business leaders in the technology sector.” Flynn and Anderson assigned half of the students to read Heidi’s story and gave the other half the same story with just one difference—they changed the name from Heidi to Howard.
When a woman excels at her job, both male and female coworkers will remark that she may be accomplishing a lot but is “not as well-liked by her peers.” She probably also “too aggressive, not a team player, a bit political, can be trusted or difficult”.
On the surface, this decision might have worked against me, since grades at Harvard business school are based 50% on class participation. Professors teach 90 minute classes and are not allowed to write anything down, so they have to rely on their memory of class discussion. When the student makes a comment that offers reference to— “if I can build on what Tom said…”— that helps the professor remember the critical points of who made them.
Owning one success is key to achieving more success.
57% of the male students, but only 7% of the female students try to negotiate for a higher offer.
There is a saying, “think globally, act locally.” When negotiating, think personally, act communally. I’ve advised many women to pre-faith negotiations by explaining that they know women often get paid less than men so they are going to negotiate rather than accept the original offer. By doing so, women position themselves as a connected to a group and not just out for themselves, in effect, they are negotiating for all women. In the silly as it sounds, pronouns matter. Whenever possible, women should substitute we for I. A woman’s request will be better received if she asserts we had a great year as opposed to I had a great year

Chapter 4: it’s a jungle gym, not a ladder.

Then I figured that everyone was doing that. So instead, I want to ask you: ‘what is your biggest problem, and how can I solve it?’ My jaw hit the floor. I had hired thousands of people over the previous decade and no one had ever said anything remotely like that. People usually focus on finding the right role for themselves, with the implication that their skills will help the company. Lori put Facebook’s needs front and center.
When I asked her recently if she wanted to go back to marketing someday, she responded that she believes human resources allows her to have a greater overall impact. The most common metaphor for couriers is a ladder, but this concept no longer applies to most workers.
Careers are a jungle gym, not a ladder. As Lori describes it, ladders are limiting— people can move up or down or on or off. Jungle gyms offers a more creative exploration. There is only one way to get to the top of the latter, but there are many ways to get to the top of the jungle gym.
When I tell them that I didn’t, they usually react by surprised followed by release. They seem encouraged to know that careers do not need to be mapped out from the start.
This search requires both focus and flexibility, so I recommend adopting two concurrent goals: a long term dream and an 18 month plan.
One of the cases we worked on concerned the shortage of organ donations, which results in 18 deaths each day in the United States alone. And never forget this case, and 17 years later, Facebook worked with organ registries around the world to launch a tool to encourage donor registration.
Eric responded with perhaps the best piece of curved vice I’ve ever heard. He covers my spreadsheet with his hand and told me not to be an idiot (also a great piece of advice). Then he explained that only one criteria on mattered when picking a job, fast growth. When companies grow quickly, there are more things to do then there are people to do them. When companies grow more slowly or stop growing, there is less to do and many people to not be doing them. Politics and stagnation setting, and everyone falters. He told me, “if you’re offered a seat on the rocket ship, you don’t ask what seat. You just get on.” I made up my mind that instant. Google was tiny and disorganized, but it was a rocket ship. And even more important to me, it was a rocket ship with a mission I believed in deeply.
Typically, my 18^th month plan sets goals on two fronts. First and most important, I set targets for what my team can accomplish. Employees who concentrate on results and impact are the most valuable—like Lori, who wisely focused on solving Facebook’s recruiting problems before focusing on herself. This is not just thinking communally, the expected and often smart choice for a woman— but simply good business. Second, I tried to set more personal goals for learning new skills in the next 18 months. It’s often painful, but I ask myself, how can I improve.
If I’m afraid to do something, it is usually because I am not good at it or perhaps I am too scared to even try.
Letting the other side make the first offer is often critical to achieving favorable terms.
Once identified this weakness, I sought to correct it. I turned to Maureen Taylor, a communications coach who gave me an assignment. She told me that for one week I couldn’t give my opinion unless asked to.
As I did when I joined Google, I prioritized potential for fast growth and the mission of the company above title. I have seen both men and women miss out on great opportunities by focusing too much on career levels.
Women are significantly more likely than men to continue to perform the same function even when they take on new duties.
Staying in the same functional area and in the same organization creates inertia and limits opportunity to expand. Seeking out diverse experiences is useful preparation for leadership.
An internal report at HP revealed that women only applied for open jobs if they think they meet 100% of the criteria listed. Men apply if they think they meet 60% of the requirements. This difference has a huge ripple effect. Women need to shift from thinking “I’m not ready to do that” to thinking “I want to do that-and I’ll learn by doing it.
The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have it.

Chapter 5: are you my mentor?

Even media Mongol Oprah Winfrey, who has taught so much to an entire generation, admits that she feels uncomfortable when someone asks her to be a mentor. She once explained, “I mentor when I see something and say, I want to see that grow.” In part, we’ve brought this on ourselves. For the past decade, talk of mentorship and sponsorship has been topic number one at any women’s career seminar. Many of these young women are responding to the often repeated advice that if they want to scale the corporate ladder, they need to find mentors as well as sponsors.
If current trends continue, 15 years from today, about one third of the women in this audience will be working full time and almost all of you will be working for the guy you’re sitting next to.
The men were focused on how to manage a business and the women were focusing on how to manage a career. The man wanted answers and the women wanted permission and help. I realize that searching for a mentor has become the professional equivalent of waiting for Prince charming.
Once again, we are teaching women to be too dependent on others.
Studies show that mentors select protégés based on performance and potential. Intuitively, people invest in those who stand out for their talent or who can really benefit from help. Mentors continue to invest when the mentees use their time well and are truly open to feedback. It may turn into a friendship, but the foundation is a professional relationship. Given this, I believe we have sent the wrong message to young women. We need to stop telling them, get a mentor and you will excel. Instead we need to tell them, Excel and you will get a mentor.
He had done his homework and knew that I care deeply about education and our first meeting and in every interaction we’ve had since, Garrett has been respectful of my time. His crisp, focused and gracious.
Capturing someone’s attention our imagination in just a minute can be done, but only when planned and tailored to that individual. Leading with the very question such as; what Facebook’s culture is like shows more ignorance than interest in the company, since there are hundreds of articles that provide the sensor. Preparation is especially important when looking for a job.
It’s wonderful when senior men mentor women. It’s even better when they champion and sponsor them. An email leader who is serious about moving towards a more equal world can make this a priority and be part of the solution.
A study published by the Center for work life policy and the Harvard business review reported that 64% a man at the level of vice president and above are hesitant to have one-on-one meetings with a more junior woman. For their part, half of the junior women avoid close contact with senior management.
Anything that even out the opportunities for men and women is the right practice. Some will get there by adopting a no dinner policy; others may adopt a dinner with anyone policy.
One study showed that women who found mentors through formal programs where 50% more likely to be promoted than women who found mentors on their own.

Chapter 6: seek and speak your truth.

Management training program taught by Fred Kofman.
When communicating hard truths, less is often more. A few years ago, Mark Zuckerberg decide to learn Chinese. To practice, he spent time with a group of Facebook employees who are native speakers. One might think that marks limited language skills would have kept these conversations from being substantially useful. Instead, they gave him greater insight into what was going on in the company. For example, one of the women was trying to tell Mark something about her manager. Mark can understand so he said, “simpler please”. Then she spoke again, that he still didn’t understand, so he had to ask her to simplify further. This happened a few more times. Eventually, she got frustrated and just blurted out my manager is bad. She was still speaking Chinese, but simply enough that Mark understood. If more people were this clear, the performance of many organizations would improve dramatically.
A few years ago, Tom Brokaw interviewed me for a piece on Facebook. Tom is a magnificent interviewer, and I felt that I stumbled through some of my answers. After we wrapped, I asked him how I could have done better. He seems surprised by my question, so I asked him again. He then told me that in his entire career, I was only the second person to ask him for feedback.
Motivation comes from working on things we care about. It also comes from working with people we care about. To really care about others, we have to understand them-what they like and dislike, what they feel as well as think. A motion drives both men and women and influences every decision we make. Recognize the role emotions play and being willing to discuss them makes us better managers, partners and peers.
It has been an evolution, but I am now a true believer in bringing our whole selves to work. I no longer think people have a professional self from Mondays through Fridays and a real self for the rest of the time.
A year later, when enough time had passed and I felt ready to return to DC, I called Larry and asked them the opportunity was still available. It is one of the easiest calls I have ever made, in part because I had been honest the year before. If I had told Larry that I was passing on the job for professional reasons, I would have appeared impulsive when I reverse that decision. Since the real reason was personal, sharing and honestly it was the best thing to do. People often pretend that professional decisions are not affected by their personal lives. They are afraid to talk about their home situations at work as if one should never interfere with the other, when of course they can and do. I know many women who don’t discuss their children at work out of fear that their priorities will be questioned.
Instead, true leadership stems from individuality and is honestly and sometimes imperfectly expressed. They believe leaders should strive for authenticity over perfection.

Chapter 7: don’t leave before you leave.

Women rarely make one big decision to leave the work force. Instead, they make a lot of small decisions along the way, making accommodations and sacrifices that they believe will be required to have a family. Of all the ways women hold themselves back, perhaps the most pervasive is that they leave before they leave.
Obviously, something else was going on, so I quietly asked, “are you worried about taking this on because you are considering having a child sometime soon?” A few years earlier, I would have been afraid to ask this question. Managers are not supposed to factor childbearing plans into account in hiring or management decisions. Raising this topic in the workplace would give most employment lawyers a heart attack. But after watching so many talented women pass on opportunities for unspoken reasons, I started addressing this issue directly. I always give people the option of not answering, but so far every woman I have asked has appeared grateful for a chance to discuss the subject.
If she found her new role challenging and rewarding, she be more excited to return to it after giving birth. If she stayed put, she might decide that her job was not worth the sacrifice.
O’Connor now refers to herself as “a career at loving parent,” and nice alternative to “working mom”.
The birth of a child instantly changes how we define ourselves. Women become mothers. Men become fathers. Couples become parents. A priority shift in fundamental ways. Parenting may be the most rewarding experience, but it also is the hardest and most humbling. If there were a right way to raise kids, everyone would do it.
43% of high qualified women with children are leaving careers, or taking off for a period of time.
Women who are most likely to leave the workforce are concentrated at opposite ends of the earning scale, married to men who earn the least and the most.
Over the past decade, child care costs have risen twice as fast as the median income of families with children. The cost for two children (an infant in the four-year-old) to go to a day care center is greater than the annual median rent payment every state in the country. When husbands work 50 or more hours per week, wise the children are 44% more likely to quit their jobs than wise of children’s who husbands work less.
This exodus of highly educated women is a major contributor to the leadership gap.
When a couple announces they are having a baby, everyone says congratulations to the man and congratulations what are you planning on doing about work to the woman.
Only 74% of professional women will rejoin the workforce in any capacity, and only 40% will return to full-time jobs. Controlling for education and hours worked, women’s average annual earnings decreased by 20% if they are out of the workforce for just one year.
One miscalculation that some women make is to drop out early in their careers because their salary barely covers the cost of childcare. Childcare is a huge expense, and it’s frustrating to work hard just to break even. But professional women need to measure the cost of childcare against their future salary rather than the current salary.
Some women have started to think of paying for child care as a way of investing in their family’s future. As the years go by, compensation often increases. Flexibility typically increases to, as senior leaders often have more control over their hours and schedules.

Chapter 8: make your partner a real partner.

According to the most recent analysis, when the husband and wife are both employed full-time, the mother does 40% more childcare and that 30% more household work than the father. A 2009 survey found only 9% of people in dual earning marriages said that they share the household work, child care and breadwinning evenly. So while men are taking on more household responsibilities, this increase is happening very slowly, and we are still far from parity.
If she acts as a gatekeeper mother and is reluctant to hand over responsibility, or worst, questions the fathers effort, he does less.
And if he gets up to deal with the diaper before being asked, she should smile even if he puts the diaper on the baby’s head. Over time, if he does things his way, they’ll find the correct and. But if he’s forced to do something her way, pretty soon she’ll be doing it herself.
Anyone who wants her mate to be a true partner must treat him as an equal— and equally capable partner.
More and more men will have to do the same, since almost 30% of US working lives now out earn their husbands.
In fact, the risk of divorce reduces by almost half when a wife earns half the income and a husband does half the household work.
Women provide more than twice as much care not only for their own parents, but for the in-laws as well.

Chapter 9: the myth of doing it all.

Having it all—three little words that are intended to be aspirational but instead make us all feel like we have fallen short. I have never met a woman, or a man who is stated indefatigably, guess I have it all. Because no matter what any of us has—and how grateful we are, no one has it all.
Instead of pondering the question “can we have it all?” We should be asking the more practical question “can we do it all? And then again, the answer is no.
About 65% of married couple families with children in the United States have two parents in the workforce, with almost all relying on both incomes to support the household.
Mothers who work outside the home are constantly reminded of these challenges. Tina Fey noticed that when she was promoting the movie date night with Steve Carell, a father of two and star in his own sitcom, reporters would grill Fey on how she balances her life, but never posed that question to her male costar. As she wrote and bossy pants, “What is the rudest question you can ask a woman? How old are you— what do you way— when you and your twin sister our loan with Mr. Hefner, do you have to pretend to be lesbians—no, the worst question is “how do you juggle it all? People constantly ask me, with the accusatory look in their eyes. “You are fucking it all up aren’t you?”
I completely agree with the advice offered by Nora Ephron and her 1996 commencement speech when she addressed the issue of women having both a career and a family. She insisted, “it will be a little messy, but embrace the mess. It will be complicated, but rejoice in the complications. It will not be anything like what you think it will be like, but surprises are good for you. And don’t be frightened: you can always change your mind. I know: I have four careers and three husbands.
One day Larry gathered everyone together for talk. He explained that since he was running the office, employees came to him when they wanted to quit. Over time, he noticed that people quit for one reason only: they were burned out, tired of working long hours and traveling. Larry said he could understand the complaint, but what he could not understand was that all the people who quit—every single one—had unused vacation time. Up until the day they left, they did everything McKinsey asked of them before deciding that it was too much. Larry implored us to exert more control over our careers. He said McKinsey would never stop making demands on our time, so it was up to us to decide that we were willing to do. It was our responsibility to draw the line. We needed to determine how many hours we were willing to work in a day and how many nights we were willing to travel. If later on, the job did not work out, we would know that we had tried on our own terms. Counterintuitively, long-term success at work often depends on not trying to meet every demand placed on us, the best way to make room for both life and career is to make choices deliberately—to set limits and stick with them.
Larry and Sergei came to my baby shower and each gave me a certificate then title me to one hour of babysitting.
In his latest book, Gen. Colin Powell explains that his vision of leadership rejects “busy bastards” who put in long hours at the office without realizing the impact they have on their staff. He explains that “in every senior job I’ve had I’ve tried to create an environment of professionalism and the very high standards. When it was necessary to get a job done, I expected my subordinates to work around the clock. When that was not necessary, I wanted them to work normal hours, go home at a decent time, play with the kids, enjoy family and friends, read a novel and refresh themselves. I want them to have a life outside the office. I am paying them for the quality of their work, not for the hours they work. That kind of environment has always produce the best results for me.”
The days when I even think of unplugging for a weekend or vacation are long gone.
Just as expectations for how many hours people work have risen dramatically, so have expectations for how many hours mothers will spend focused on their children. In 1975, stay-at-home mother spent an average of about 11 hours per week on primary child care (defined as routine caregiving and activities that foster a child’s well-being, such as reading and fully focused play). Mother is employed outside the home in 1975 spent six hours doing these activities. Today, stay-at-home mothers spend about 17 hours per week on primary child care on average, while mothers who work outside the home spend about 11 hours. This means that an employed mother today spends about the same amount of time on primary child care activities as a non-employed mother did in 1975.
In 1991, the early child care research network, under the national Institute of Child care and human development, initiated the most ambitious and comprehensive study to date on the relationship between child care and child development, and in particular on the effects of exclusive maternal care versus child care. The research network, which comprised more than 30 child development experts from leading universities across the country, spent 18 months designing the study. They tracked more than 1000 children over the course of 15 years, repeatedly assessing the child’s cognitive skills, language abilities and social behaviors. Dozens of the papers have been published about what they found. In 2006, the researchers released a report summarizing their findings which concluded that “children who were cared for exclusively by their mothers did not develop differently than those who are also cared for by others.” They found no gap in cognitive skills, language competence, social competency, ability to build and maintain relationships for in the quality of the mother child bond. Parental behavior factors—including fathers who were responsive and positive, mothers who favored “self-directed child behavior,” and parents with emotional intimacy in their marriages— influence a child’s development 2 to 3 times more than any other form of childcare. One of the findings is worth reading slowly, maybe even twice: exclusive maternal care was not related to better or worse outcomes for children. There is us, no reason for mothers to feel as though they are harming their children if they decide to work.
Children absolutely need parental involvement, love, care time and attention. But parents who work outside the home are still capable of giving their children a loving and secure childhood. Some data even suggest that having two parents working outside the home can be advantageous to a child’s development, particularly for girls.
When I went back to my job after giving birth, other working mothers told me to prepare for the day that my son would cry for his nanny. Sure enough, when he was about 11 months old, he was crawling on the floor of his room and put you need down on the toy. He looked up for help crying and reached for her instead of me. It pierced my heart, but Dave thought it was a good sign. The reason that we were the central figures of our son’s life, but forming an attachment to the caregiver was good for his development. I understand his logic especially in retrospect, but at the time it hurt like hell.

Chapter 10: let’s start talking about it.

As Gloria Steinem observed, whoever has power takes over the noun—and the norm—while the less powerful get an adjective.
What I didn’t know at the time was that ignoring the issue is a classic survival technique.
I start noticing how often employees were judged not by their objective performance, but by the subjective standard of how well they fit in.
One of my colleagues from treasury called to say that others—not him of course—were wondering why I gave more speeches on women’s issues than on Facebook. I had been at the company for 2 ½ years in given countless speeches on rebuilding marketing around the social graph and exactly one speech on gender.
For example, Google has an unusual system where engineers nominate themselves for promotions, and the company found that men nominated themselves more quickly than women. The Google management team share this dad openly with the female employees, and women’s self nomination rates grow significantly, reaching roughly the same rates as men.
Talking can transform minds, which can transform behaviors which can transform institutions.
When a female employee kicked off a negotiation by insisting that she should have a higher title and was under leveled because she was a woman, and immediately put him on the defense. She was speaking her truth but in this case her truth was an accusation with legal ramifications. As soon as she frame the issue in those terms, the CEO had no choice but to put their friendly talks on hold and call in HR. It might have served her better to explain how she was contributing to the company and ask for the promotion first.
A research study in 29 countries found that when men and women select a colleague to collaborate with, both were significantly more likely to choose someone of the same gender. Yet diverse groups often perform better. Armed with this information, managers should take a more active role in mixing and matching when assigning teams. Or, at the very least manager should point out this tendency.
The key is to avoid unnecessary sacrifice.
We worry that even mentioning other priorities makes us less valuable employees. I face this tube. As I described, once I had children I change my working hours to be home for dinner. But only fairly recently did I start talking about this change. And while the impact of my actual living work early was negligible, admitting that I went home at 530 turn out to be kind of a big deal.
A few years later, producer Dylan McGee interviewed me for her maker is a video series. We spoke on a wide range of subjects, including my daily work schedule. The video was posted to the web and was instantly the subject of heated debate.
I had to reassure myself that this was still absurd. Still the clamor made me realize how incredibly hard it would be for someone in the less senior position to ask for or admit to this schedule.
They laid out a new, communal definition of leadership: leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.
The second year, HBS introduce small group projects to encourage collaboration between classmates who would not naturally work together. They also added a year-long field course, which plays to the strengths of students who are less comfortable contributing in front of large classes. By commencement, the performance gap had virtually disappeared. Men and women as well as international students were represented proportionally in the honors awards. There was another benefit to. In a result many considered surprising, overall student satisfaction went up, not just for the female and international students but for American males as well. By creating a more equal environment, everyone was happier.
Now I proudly call myself a feminist. If Tip O’Neill were alive today, I might even tell him that I am a pom-pom girl for feminism. I hope more women and men will join me in accepting this distinguished label. Currently, only 24% of women in the US say they are considered feminists.

Chapter 11: working together towards equality.

We have celebrated the fact that women have the right to make this decision, and rightly so. But we have to ask ourselves if we have become so focused on supporting personal choices that we are failing to encourage women to aspire to leadership.
Thanks to her high profile appointment, other companies might consider hiring pregnant women for big jobs, and expectant mothers might be more inclined to apply for them.
There is hope that this attitude is changing. A recent survey found that high potential women working in business want to pay it forward, and 73% have reached out to other women to help them develop their talents. Almost all of the women I have encountered professionally have gone out of their way to be helpful.
Mothers who work outside the home should regard mothers who work inside the home as real workers. And mothers who work inside the home should be especially respectful for those choosing another option.
40% of employed mothers lack sick days and vacation leave, and about 50% of employed mothers are unable to take time off to care for a sick child. Only about half of women receive any pay during maternity leave.

Matt W. Kane

Lean In