From the Bookshelf of Reader with a Cause…

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Sheryl Sandberg

Start date: April 1, 2014

Finish date: June 15, 2014

Discussion: Lean In

Why we're reading this: This is one that's been on many of our "to-read" lists for quite some time now...…more
[close] This is one that's been on many of our "to-read" lists for quite some time now...

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Lean In

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Apr 23, 2015 Illiterate rated it did not like it

As a mother who works outside the home- I just couldn't with this one.

I was given this book by a friend- I want to call her and return it promptly so it does not sit on my shelves a moment longer.

The concept was a nice one- " Women need to just be more assertive, have confidence, don't back down from the challenges in the work place out of fears of conflict with personal goals of motherhood/marriage."

I have no problem with the concept of 'leaning in'. I think most feminists are already experts As a mother who works outside the home- I just couldn't with this one.

I was given this book by a friend- I want to call her and return it promptly so it does not sit on my shelves a moment longer.

The concept was a nice one- " Women need to just be more assertive, have confidence, don't back down from the challenges in the work place out of fears of conflict with personal goals of motherhood/marriage."

I have no problem with the concept of 'leaning in'. I think most feminists are already experts at doing this. My problems were that she never really addresses a real-world way of doing this. How can the 99% lean in and not fall flat on their face. She casually mentions how women are penalized in the work place for leaving to address mommy duties (sick child, teacher work day, etc) But does not speak on how- if encountered with the same scenarios she would honestly address it.
Instead she has the luxury of a progressive partner/boss -Mike Zuckerburg) who says - Oh sure why not. Its nice that she uses her personal anecdotes as an example. But not everyone works for a liberal company like Google- so the anecdotes she shared invoked a lot of eye-rolling and sucked teeth for me.I found myself laughing at the miraculous solutions that seemed to drop from the sky rather than celebrating them.

And where, pray tell, does one find a loving generous and equally successful spouse, who will gladly put his career on the back burner to raise the children with not even a raised voice of protest. She does not go into detail over this selection process. Why? Probably because she risks exposing the truth- she was extraordinarily lucky in finding such a man. After all, wasn't this a second marriage for her?- we don't know. She glosses over the reason for failure of the first marriage. She never addresses the prospect that she could have never found such a man. What then- would she still sing such a cheery tune?

I just couldn't with this book. At the risk of making a sexist comment- This book was like watching a cheerleader give a speech to a losing football team at halftime. "Hey team!. Lets all Lean in! Thats it! just do it! That's been the problem all along. If you Lean in! It will all work out!" SMH. Very inspirational but lacking substance on how to truly win the game. Most importantly it does not address, what happens if the opponents ( career, spouse etc)- see you leaning in and either step aside and let you fall, or grab your hair and push you down on the field. A very real possibility in this audience she is trying to reach with her book. As a feminist, I think one would be all for female football coaches. Not sideline cheerleaders.

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