Another reason to love THK

[MonteLukast]

Check out Women Don't Ask. It was absolutely balm to my soul, as a woman who likes to feel ambitious... and would like to feel free to actually put that into practice again, after many years of wondering if I would ever be able to do more than dream about it.

So much career advice for women rubs me completely the wrong way. Anything in general that has the message that "you can solve everything just by changing yourself", in my mind, dissuades us from changing important things in the system. We have to change both ourselves and the system if we're really to have a equitable playing field in employment.

This book takes into the obstacles facing working women today-- it really takes a good, franklook at the consequences women face when they do speak up, the potential career damage that still, shamefully, too often occurs! The whole phenomenon of judging women to a higher standard, of judging her job performance on her wardrobe (http://mediamatters.org/items/200611210002), hairstyle and parenting status, is given the respect it deserves and not the passing glances most advice gives.

Maybe if we want to get rid of sexism, it's not primarily our family lives we need to change. Maybe we need to focus on the arena where we spend most of our time, where it's most emotionally charged with concerns for our survival and our freedom of thought: the workplace.

And guess who's a big praiser of this book?

"This book is an eye opener, a call to arms, and a plan for action; it is enlightening, unsettling, and, ultimately, inspiring. Although women have made great strides in American society, the reality is that, since the 1990s, progress has slowed to almost a standstill. Gracefully and with humor, Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever tell a riveting story about an invisible problem that's been hiding in plain sight: one major reason that women still work for less money and advance less far and less fast than men is that women themselves have accepted the status quo and refrained from asking for more than they're offered and for less than they need or deserve. They make the novel—and important—point that negotiation may be one of feminism's final frontiers. Of all the books about the roadblocks our society erects in women's paths, this one may prove to be the most useful in everyday life."
---Teresa Heinz Kerry

One of the authors is the James M. Walton Professor of Economics at The Heinz School, Carnegie Mellon. So you know she's closely allied with smart, intrepid, pro-woman people. People who believe in sunshine, who aren't afraid to tackle those issues that are unspoken, ignored, or "just the way things are".


The reality is that, since the 1990s, progress has slowed to almost a standstill.
Teresa knows what she's talking about. She has her eyes wide open and her mind switched on.

Let's be like Linda Babcock. We need friends and allies in this world, so let's team up with people who REALLY have their heads on straight, and know how to get the goods in life.

[wisteria]

1. It is about time for a revival of sorts.

What ever happened to the Equal Rights Amendment? It was almost ratified years ago. Women still are not equal partners in many marriages as well in business. It seems women since the late 80's have been striving to achieve the wrong things.

[Noisy Democrat]

2. Thanks for posting this!

This looks like a book well worth reading. I had never heard of it before, and now I think I need a copy. :)