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

"To this day, I'm embarrassed that I didn't realize that pregnant women needed reserved parking until I experienced my own aching feet. As one of Google's most senior women, didn't I have a special responsibility to think of this? But like Sergey, it had never occurred to me. The other pregnant women must have suffered in silence, not wanting to ask for special treatment. Or maybe they lacked the confidence or seniority to demand that the problem be fixed. Having one pregnant woman at the top—even one who looked like a whale—made the difference." 

The argument Sandberg makes in Lean In hinges to a large extent on the idea that gender equality can be secured from the top downwards—that is, that putting more women in positions of power will benefit women in all walks of life. Not surprisingly, then, Sandberg begins her book with an anecdote that supports this idea; as Sandberg describes it, the problem isn't so much that those at the top are unwilling to institute change as it is that they aren't aware of the need for it. This, Sandberg says, proves that representation matters, since women are more likely to be attuned to the problems other women face. The above excerpt is also a good example of Sandberg's tendency to use personal stories to back up her claims, blurring the line between the personal and the professional.

"The blunt truth is that men still run the world. Of the 195 independent countries in the world, only 17 are led by women. Women hold just 20 percent of seats in parliaments globally. In the United States, where we pride ourselves on liberty and justice for all, the gender division of leadership roles is not much better. Women became 50 percent of the college graduates in the United States in the early 1980s. Since then, women have slowly and steadily advanced, earning more and more of the college degrees, taking more of the entry-level jobs, and entering more fields previously dominated by men. Despite these gains, the percentage of women at the top of corporate America has barely budged over the past decade. A meager twenty-one of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Women hold about 14 percent of executive officer positions, 17 percent of board seats, and constitute 18 percent of our elected congressional officials. The gap is even worse for women of color, who hold just 4 percent of top corporate jobs, 3 percent of board seats, and 5 percent of congressional seats. While women continue to outpace men in educational achievement, we have ceased making real progress at the top of any industry. This means that when it comes to making the decisions that most affect our world, women's voices are not heard equally." 

Although Lean In discusses gender inequality in the workplace from multiple angles, most of Sandberg's claims ultimately relate back to the "leadership gap" outlined in this passage; as Sandberg notes, the current balance of power is not what one might expect of a truly equal society, particularly given that women's educational achievements make them, if anything, overqualified for top jobs.