Sex and PowerAt the dawn of the twenty-first century, women in America are richer, more educated, and more powerful than they've ever been. So why is it, Susan Estrich asks, that they account for a mere three percent of the nation's top executives? Why are there only three women running Fortune 500 companies? A quick survey of politics, academia, law, medicine, and entertainment reveals similar troubling inequities. Twenty-five years ago, the women who were "firsts" were supposed to have blazed a trail. Today, fewer and fewer women are choosing to take that path. Why have so many women opted out of the race for power? And why is it that women fail to call into action the power they already have as consumers, voters, shareholders, agents of change? It is Susan Estrich's belief that until women reach the seats of power-where the rules are made-the deck will continue to be stacked against them. And the consequences, she writes, will be paid by future generations of daughters-and sons. Much of Estrich's critical focus is trained on the question of ambition: Are women today ambitious enough, both individually and collectively? When a woman chooses the mommy track, is it a victory for freedom of choice or a setback that underscores the limits of her either/or options? Are younger women too complacent, feeling that the battles for sexual equality were won long ago? On the contrary, Estrich argues. The battles were only half won; there is a revolution to finish. Certain to provoke national debate in this election year, this is the book waiting to be written by Estrich-and the book every woman should read before heading to the voting booth. One of the country's most renowned legal scholars & political insiders offers a clear-eyed & tough-minded evaluation of women in America from the bedroom to the boardroom, a post-Monica assessment of the state of affairs for women in politics, & an examination of the unfinished business of feminism. |
Contents
In the Middle of a Revolution | 1 |
On Being Extraordinary | 31 |
Equal Under the Law | 49 |
Copyright | |
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ambitious Angeles Anita Hill argued asked better Bill Clinton boys campaign candidates career Catalyst claimed companies corporate America corporate women daughter decision Donna Brazile earn EMILY's List employers equal expectations fact female feminism feminist Fortune 500 gender Gina girls Gore Harvard Law School Hillary Clinton hire husband judge kids Kimberle Crenshaw law firm Law Review lawyers leave less Madeleine male ment mommy track Monica Lewinsky mothers never number of women partner Paula Jones percent person political position pregnancy problem professor promoted prove public world rape reason Reveta rules senior sex differences sex discrimination sexual harassment story student success Supreme Court SUSAN ESTRICH talk tell tend things tion told vice president Wall Street Journal woman workplace wrong