“Lean In”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/feminists-need-to-challenge-themselves-too/article9234516/

The above article discusses how: “Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, has done something pretty gutsy. She has written a manifesto about breaking the glass ceiling, called Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, and is drawing fire for it, because she argues that women often sabotage themselves….She wants her “Lean In” circles – all-women spaces to be supported by corporate workplaces – to teach women negotiation, public speaking and other skills, all merged with upbeat collective support.”

The article goes through techniques that Sandberg suggests to help women improve themselves, such as changing their voices to being more declaratory and straightening their posture (things men from elite backgrounds are trained to do from birth).

(Thanks to Kamini for the article)

Some of the comments this article received on our FB Page were:

Briony Haig: “I think she’s right. I see young girls & women apologizing their way through life!”

Elizabeth Mitchell: “This article leaves me cold, personally. I agree with Briony that apologizing all the time isn’t where it’s at, but at its heart, I feel like this article is about finding a way to fit women into the mould of what an ideal male leader looks like. There’s no consideration that some women have their own style of speaking or of interacting with people that is valuable, too, even if it’s not always as aggressive. I’m constantly being told that I need to speak louder, and I hate it, because I’m not lacking confidence, I just speak more softly than some. And as we talked about at the roundtable last week, there are more “feminine” ways of negotiating/resolving disputes that can be incredibly effective, but I bet that’s not what Sheryl Sandberg has in mind.”

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