Women and Leadership
Conversations with some of the world’s most powerful women
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- €9.99
Publisher Description
For readers of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sheryl Sandberg and Mary Beard, Women and Leadership is a powerful call to arms about the lack of women at the top.
'Who better qualified to delve into this topic?' Business Life
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Women make up less than 10 per cent of national leaders. Behind this statistic lies a pattern of unequal access to power. Drawing on current research and in conversation with some of the world's most powerful and interesting women about their lived experience, Gillard and Okonjo-Iweala explore gender bias and ask how we get more women into leadership roles.
Speaking honestly and freely, women leaders such as Jacinda Ardern, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Bachelet and Theresa May talk about their ideas receiving less acknowledgement than their male colleagues' ideas, what it's like to be body-shamed in the media, and the things they wish they had done differently. Their stories reveal how gender and sexism affect perceptions of women as leaders, their pathways to power and the circumstances in which their leadership comes to an end.
The result is a rare insight into life as a leader and a powerful call to arms for women everywhere.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Gillard, the former prime minister of Australia, and Okonjo-Iweala (Reforming the Unreformable), the former finance minister of Nigeria, offer a unique study of female leadership based on conversations with eight women leaders from around the world. The interviewees, including Hillary Clinton, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, and European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde, answer questions based on the authors' hypotheses about why there are so few female leaders and how they get treated differently than their male counterparts. One key to enabling women leaders, Gillard and Okonjo-Iweala suggest (and their profile subjects confirm), is a childhood in which girls are taught they are no different than boys. Other topics include the disproportionate attention paid to women's appearances, the requirement that female leaders be both authoritative and nurturing, how to address being perceived as "a bit of a bitch," and the importance of networking. Noting that the Australian Parliament House has a childcare center and the U.K. House of Commons allows maternity leave, the authors reassure readers that family life and professional ambition can coexist. Full of practical advice and insights into the careers of a diverse and impressive array of women, this is a valuable handbook for putting more women in positions of power.
