A Connoisseur Of Feminism

A Connoisseur Of Feminism

Yet another post is dedicated to the fairer sex, the bearers of double X chromosome. This time the concerns are voiced out by a most successful personality whose paeans are abuzz in the corporate world. She is Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating Officer of the most acclaimed media networking website, Facebook. Her book “Lean in: Women, Work and The Will To Lead” has made to headlines for her strong feminist views. Though I didn’t have the opportunity to read the book, few reviews and articles about the same has really delighted me.

This book has been carefully scrutinized and reviewed as it has been penned by most powerful women in America. She had made some careful conclusions and come up with analytical solutions that can bring a paradigm of change in women’s world. It is irrefutable truth that people hold separate set of standards for men and women. While it is observed that there is a positive correlation between likability and success in case of men. It is negatively correlated for women. Successful men are liked and rewarded by both men and women whereas successful women are awkwardly disliked by women. Successful women are scoffed for being too “aggressive” or “political” or “not as team player” for being “too pushy” or “harsh”, while a similar approach by men is universally acceptable and highly recommended. But people tend to grossly undermine the fact that any person man or woman has to tread a very difficult terrain to reach the pinnacle of success. There is no short cut to success.

Women constitute nearly half of the population but when it comes to their representation in higher posts their numbers are abysmally low. The book has come up good statistics which mirrors the woman’s position in the present world. I intend to quote some numbers  to have a better clarity about the subject and to understand the kind of subjugation woman undergo at various stages. Another important aspect about the numbers is that it is representation of the current status of women irrespective of countries. This further indicates that woman’s status world over is more or less the same and the society is still highly polarized. Women hold around 14% of Fortune 500 executive-officer positions, and about 17% of board seats and these numbers have barely changed over a decade. Currently there are 17 women head of states out of 195 countries. But what is really interesting is 28% of men hold college degree as against 36% of women. The issue contention is that while more number of women obtain higher degrees from universities they are not equally represented in the higher echelons.

The book has come up with new scheme of events to empower women. Irrespective of the obstacles faced by women in professional life, from sexism and discrimination to a lack of flexibility, access to child care and parental leave. Certain internal barriers passed on over generations have really curtailed them to explore the world. Various important aspects have been highlighted in the book on which women can lean in to carve a beautiful life of their own. Unlike other people who largely condemn the society for having discriminatory attitude towards women. She urges women to pursue their career with more rigor, to engage more energetically by breaking the internal barriers to expand her own world and realize the realm of her dreams. She further wanted men to lean into families and play an equal role in home-care and child rearing.

Most people might think why there is sudden surge in wave of feminism world over? Though women continue to outpace men in educational achievements they are grossly underrepresented in terms of real progress. It is still largely a men’s world. It is really a pitiable situation since half the human resources are underutilized. There would have been a great scope of improvement if women are empowered. When they hold themselves back from pursuing a useful career, it is going to be a drain on the power structure of the world. Enabling women to take up leadership roles would mark the beginning of a new era with greater gender balance.

 

 

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