![]() ![]() The US offers none.įocusing on individual behavior as the sole source of success and failure lets structural sexism in the business world entirely off the hook. Women have a tendency to mentally check out of their workplace in the late stages of pregnancy, Sandberg opines but she fails to mention that the United States has some of the weakest maternity leave rights in the world: in the forty-two countries that comprise the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, women are given an average of eighteen weeks of maternity pay. The problem, apparently, is that women hold themselves back. But this form of feminism is entirely individual, with no blame apportioned for workplace disputes or the attitudes of the entirely male executives Sandberg dealt with. Lean In was remarkably successful, with accessible prose and promises of greater success for readers if they acted on Sandberg’s advice. But in Sandberg’s anecdote, they remain entirely invisible. The tale is designed to show how few women had reached her position - but is far more revealing than that: plenty of women would surely work in the office, providing the coffee and sweeping the floors. Sandberg asked where the women’s bathroom was, and none of the all-male office occupants knew. ![]() Pitching a deal, a senior figure suggested a break for refreshments. In Sheryl Sandberg’s business-manual-cum-self-help-book Lean In, she recounts an anecdote about a meeting in New York. ![]()
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