Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean in: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead” is not receiving much attention here. It has not been talked about like the New Trier vs. Simeon game or even the monk that came last week.
But, outside of the New Trier enclave, Sandberg’s controversial book is all the rage. It claims that men, women, and the system are to blame for the fact that women make 77 cents for every dollar men make. She gives personal anecdotes of where she has succeeded and more importantly, failed.
It discusses what she calls “The Leadership Ambition Gap,” an explanation for why only 21 of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women. “Lean In” is her go-to phrase; it advises women to truly put themselves out there with their professions, taking risks, but also maintaining mental stability. She never says this is an easy feat and says that it applies differently for each woman.
Sandberg herself is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and was the Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google when it was just a little known search engine. In 2011, she was named number 5 on Forbes’ “ the world’s 100 most powerful women” list.
“Lean in,” which came out just last week, was buzzing with controversy weeks before its release. People are searching for a label for the book: a self-help book, a women’s empowerment book, or even a feminist manifesto.
But Sandberg has her words for that inquiry: “It is not a feminist manifesto—okay, it is sort of a feminist manifesto, but one that I hope inspires men as much as it inspires women,” she writes.
Sandberg has taken criticism for a plethora of her arguments. First, there is the complaint that because she is a billionaire she can afford to “Lean In,” to commit herself fully to her profession while still taking care of her children.
The issue with that argument is this: who better to write the book? In an interview with ABC, she states that it is her “responsibility” as a successful woman to speak out.
Even more, Jezebel.com’s Tracie Egan Morrissey points out, “if someone said the same thing about men like Donald Trump or Warren Buffett – that they’re too rich to write books about how to climb the corporate ladder to success – people would laugh at the ludicrousness of such a suggestion.”
Another criticism is that she puts too much of the blame on women themselves. In her first chapter, “Internalizing the Revolution,” she writes, “[Women] hold [them]selves back in ways big and small, by lacking self-confidence, by not raising our hands, and by pulling back when we should be leaning in.” Throughout the book she uses factual evidence to argue that it isn’t just the fault of the system and the men; it is the fault of women, too.
Specifically, she claims that women too often deter their careers because of family planning, when they are even yet to be married. She calls this “Leaving Before You Leave.”
One hundred and thirty pages into “Lean In,” I was struggling to see why people disliked Sandberg and her message so much. Sure, it’s not perfect; she asks a lot of both women and men. She is charismatic, well-spoken, and backs up all of her claims with convincing evidence.
Perhaps, I was blinded by my already liberal, feminist views. Or perhaps, I am too used to the community of my family and friends that has never left me feeling disadvantaged as a woman.
When I tried to comprehend the controversy, I failed to transfer the ideas of an entire chapter into my thinking. In “Success and Likability,” she states, “When a man is successful, he is liked by both men and women. When a woman is successful, people of both genders like her less.” These aren’t just her words; they are supported by countless studies cited in the back of the book. Sandberg is that successful and powerful woman.