All This Rage Against Sheryl Sandberg Feels A Bit Anti-Feminist To Us
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's new book,
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
came out yesterday. We're making our way through it slowly but surely, and we're riveted.
In her own words, here's the mission statement of the book and the movement she's hoping to start:
We are here to support each other and learn from each other. “Lean In” gave me the opportunity to share my thoughts and some of the lessons I have learned. Now it’s your turn. By talking openly about the challenges that we all face in the workplace and at home, we can work towards solutions together.
Pretty great, right? NPR even calls it "something of a feminist call to arms." And who can argue with that kind of progress on the gender-equality front, right?
Sandberg opens her introduction talking about her pregnancy, and the difficulties she faced as a working woman (there's a co-worker's cringe-inducing reference to a "whale" and the fact that it never occurred to anyone at Google that pregnant women might benefit from reserved parking). But, the point she really makes here is that the parking thing never occurred to her, either, until she was pregnant herself — and that it's critical for women to think about other women and to stand up for themselves. All good, still, right? These don't sound like the words of a woman who hates mothers or people who aren't yet as successful as she is.
Photo: Courtesy of Knopf.
Next
- 1 of 2
in NYC