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Lean In
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Lean In
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead is a 2013 book encouraging women to assert themselves at work and at home, co-written by business executive Sheryl Sandberg and media writer Nell Scovell.
The synopsis of the eleven chapters of the book is:
Lean In has been reviewed by various commentators. In a July 2013 article for The Baffler, Susan Faludi argues that Sandberg's message of women's workplace empowerment is actually a corporate-backed campaign; Sandberg encourages women to market themselves as "consumer object[s]" for professional advancement while discouraging solidarity and downplaying effects of systemic gender bias in the workplace. Faludi further questions the selection criteria used by LeanIn.org for its corporate "Platform Partners", many of whom are burdened by "recent or pending EEOC grievances and state and federal court actions involving sex discrimination, sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, unfair promotion policies, wrongful terminations, and gender-based retaliations against female employees."
Zoe Williams in The Guardian referred to Lean In as "an infantilising, reactionary guide for ambitious women." She emphasizes Sandberg's contradictory approach in both criticizing and upholding misogynistic workplace practices.
During her Becoming book tour in 2018, Michelle Obama mentioned Lean In: "I tell women that whole 'so you can have it all.' Nope, not at the same time. That's a lie. And it's not always enough to lean in, because that shit doesn't work all the time."
Author bell hooks wrote a critical analysis of the book, called "Dig Deep: Beyond Lean In". hooks calls Sandberg's position "faux feminist" and describes her stance on gender equality in the workplace as agreeable to those who wield power in society—wealthy white men, according to hooks—in a seemingly feminist package. hooks writes, "[Sandberg] comes across as a lovable younger sister who just wants to play on the big brother's team." hooks states that mass media, along with Sandberg, tells us that any woman willing to work hard can climb the corporate ladder all the way to the top. The article further argues that Lean In ignores "the concrete systemic obstacles most women face inside the workforce." hooks reasons that instead of the "Lean In" campaign inciting social change, its purpose is to provide women advice on how to become successful within existing conditions, and that effectively, Lean In does not consider the reality of intersectionality, which has been a growing subject in the contemporary feminist movement.
The main elements in hooks' article, such as race, class, and sexuality, draw from her work Feminism Is For Everybody. In the book, hooks describes how not all women are made equally – there is not a homogenous identity for women. hooks states that privileged white women know that their status is different from that of black women/women of color (pg.10); reformist white women with class privilege want the freedom they see men of their class enjoying (pg.38); and heterosexual women appeal more to men and society (pg.97).
Kathleen Geier discussed in the article "Does Feminism Have a Class Problem?" that Sandberg's philosophy was that if more women advanced into leadership positions then all women would gain. Geier's response to this assumption was: "there is little reason to have faith that Sandberg-style 'trickle-down' feminism will benefit the masses any more than its economic equivalent has … her enthusiasm for capitalism and her advocacy of a depoliticized strategy that focused on self-improvement rather than collective action troubled many feminists on the left." Geier advises that the only effective and lasting way to advance economic equality is through collective political action; implementing some programs such as universal childcare, paid family and sick leave, and a European-style cap on work hours would resonate for women of all classes.
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Lean In
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead is a 2013 book encouraging women to assert themselves at work and at home, co-written by business executive Sheryl Sandberg and media writer Nell Scovell.
The synopsis of the eleven chapters of the book is:
Lean In has been reviewed by various commentators. In a July 2013 article for The Baffler, Susan Faludi argues that Sandberg's message of women's workplace empowerment is actually a corporate-backed campaign; Sandberg encourages women to market themselves as "consumer object[s]" for professional advancement while discouraging solidarity and downplaying effects of systemic gender bias in the workplace. Faludi further questions the selection criteria used by LeanIn.org for its corporate "Platform Partners", many of whom are burdened by "recent or pending EEOC grievances and state and federal court actions involving sex discrimination, sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, unfair promotion policies, wrongful terminations, and gender-based retaliations against female employees."
Zoe Williams in The Guardian referred to Lean In as "an infantilising, reactionary guide for ambitious women." She emphasizes Sandberg's contradictory approach in both criticizing and upholding misogynistic workplace practices.
During her Becoming book tour in 2018, Michelle Obama mentioned Lean In: "I tell women that whole 'so you can have it all.' Nope, not at the same time. That's a lie. And it's not always enough to lean in, because that shit doesn't work all the time."
Author bell hooks wrote a critical analysis of the book, called "Dig Deep: Beyond Lean In". hooks calls Sandberg's position "faux feminist" and describes her stance on gender equality in the workplace as agreeable to those who wield power in society—wealthy white men, according to hooks—in a seemingly feminist package. hooks writes, "[Sandberg] comes across as a lovable younger sister who just wants to play on the big brother's team." hooks states that mass media, along with Sandberg, tells us that any woman willing to work hard can climb the corporate ladder all the way to the top. The article further argues that Lean In ignores "the concrete systemic obstacles most women face inside the workforce." hooks reasons that instead of the "Lean In" campaign inciting social change, its purpose is to provide women advice on how to become successful within existing conditions, and that effectively, Lean In does not consider the reality of intersectionality, which has been a growing subject in the contemporary feminist movement.
The main elements in hooks' article, such as race, class, and sexuality, draw from her work Feminism Is For Everybody. In the book, hooks describes how not all women are made equally – there is not a homogenous identity for women. hooks states that privileged white women know that their status is different from that of black women/women of color (pg.10); reformist white women with class privilege want the freedom they see men of their class enjoying (pg.38); and heterosexual women appeal more to men and society (pg.97).
Kathleen Geier discussed in the article "Does Feminism Have a Class Problem?" that Sandberg's philosophy was that if more women advanced into leadership positions then all women would gain. Geier's response to this assumption was: "there is little reason to have faith that Sandberg-style 'trickle-down' feminism will benefit the masses any more than its economic equivalent has … her enthusiasm for capitalism and her advocacy of a depoliticized strategy that focused on self-improvement rather than collective action troubled many feminists on the left." Geier advises that the only effective and lasting way to advance economic equality is through collective political action; implementing some programs such as universal childcare, paid family and sick leave, and a European-style cap on work hours would resonate for women of all classes.