Women who seek
to be equal with men
lack ambition.
Timothy Leary
I dare you to keep a straight face after reading this title of Gina Barreca‘s compilation of musings on life, love, and work:
If You Lean In, Will Men Just Look Down Your Blouse?
She makes her point in this excerpt:
I asked a woman, “What did you think about Sheryl Sandberg‘s Lean In?”
“At my job, if I lean in, guys just look down my blouse.”
For many of us, reading about wildly high-profile women is a form of masochism. It’s like tearing off our cuticles. We turn pages and wonder, “Why can’t I be more like her?” Then we think what we could have done better.
If only we’d been more focused as teenagers. (That probably would have been possible.) And if only we’d done our senior thesis at Harvard with Larry Summers, who’d have coached us to get our MBA at Harvard and then hired us at twenty-nine to become chief of staff at the Treasury Department. (Maybe slightly less possible.) I’m just saying that not everybody has access to the same playing field as Sandberg and that point needs to be recognized.
Until every woman has access to employment at wages equal to her male colleagues, until women are not told, as Microsoft CEO Sarya Nadella announced at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, that women should “trust the system” and rely on “karma” to reward them financially without asking for raises (as if that’s worked really well up to now), and until every child has a stable secure home, everything else sidesteps the real issue of equity.
I am grateful to this Powerful Goddess for her inspiration to brave new beginnings and define her own success. Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share who holds the key to yours.
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits
with a Powerful Goddess portrait session Gift Certificate:
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
Powerful Goddess Portraits 
May 25, 2016 @ 09:55:52
I’m am absolutely not a bragger but I am very pleased with myself about my belief and attitude as it relates to women in the workforce and women in my life. My track record speaks for itself in the pursuit of fair and equal pay/treatment for women. Why should there be a difference; there shouldn’t be! Some of the women I have worked with have made the better half of our team. I truly believe that and appreciate their hard work and in some cases they were compensated but not nearly enough. Thank you to the women that have been on my team for our successes.
Love the photos of this Goddess. Photo number one is my chosen favorite this week.
Great quote this week…very true!
Mountain
Jun 14, 2016 @ 12:15:54
You’re every Goddess’ dream, Mountain!
xoxox
May 21, 2019 @ 09:06:55
Such a thrill to hear from this book’s author today:
Thanks a million for using a passage from IF YOU LEAN IN, WILL MEN JUST LOOK DOWN YOUR BLOUSE? to get your admirers and friends–your community–to laugh and think of themselves in a new light. I am grateful and honored–and impressed by your work. Congratulations!
Gina Barecca