Few Woman Leaders Critical Response

“Women are not making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world

“Women are not making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world & women face harder choices between professional success and personal fulfillment.” While I do not entirely agree with these opening statements by speaker Sheryl Sandberg because there are (few)women in high positions, I do agree with her speech overall. In her “why we have few women leaders” TEDX talk Sanberg speaks about 3 skills that we women need to learn and pass on. This essay servers to talk about some of the reproductive struggles that lead to women not being as “successful” as well as the doubt women have and tell how this relates to the importance of women's centers.

Reproductive work

Systemically, “All women face harder choices between professional success and personal fulfillment.“

Meaning women often are left to do more reproductive work and do not receive even half the recognition with regard to productivity or get considered to be “successful” as easily as men do. This is due to systemic gender-based inequalities. Women are often left to take care of the kids, take care of the household, and make sacrifices, while men typically are mostly only responsible for working. However, instead of focusing on the things that work systemically against women, she flips the script and gives us advice that can help empower women and need to be taught in order to help combat this.

Tackling women's doubt

It is important to “sit at the table”.

The speaker talks about how it Oftentimes women are afraid to take up space in a room and do not give themselves the credit they deserve. Women often underestimate themselves 3X more times than their male counterparts while men typically overestimate their skills. This is majorly due to the fact that many women are not as confident and systemically do not negotiate for themselves in the workforce. Women attribute their success to themselves while women contribute it to their environment and the people around them. Men will tell you that they got to where they are because “they are awesome” while women will say it's out of “luck” or that someone else helped them instead of claiming the victory on their own. As women, we must learn that it is okay for us to achieve and be proud of our accomplishments.“Believe in yourself and negotiate for yourself. Own your own success."

What about women's centers?

“ No one gets to the corner office by sitting on the side...and no one gets the promotion if they don't think they deserve, or they don't even understand their own success.“

The speaker mentions that “ No one gets to the corner office by sitting on the side...and no one gets the promotion if they don't think they deserve, or they don't even understand their own success.“ Women's centers are very critical resources for the development of young women. They teach women the skills and provide resources for women to be successful and navigate in this male-centered world. This kind of teaching and empowerment is important because once we have discovered the issues surrounding gender inequalities and inequities we have to take a step further and do more to combat them. While this will take the cooperation of all sexes and genders, Women's centers are a good tool for women to learn how to cope with the current state of our society and to teach them how to navigate through it with confidence. We must teach women to confidently “take a seat at the table” even if they feel they don’t belong because their voices are valid and must be heard.

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Source : https://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders/transcript?referrer=playlist-10_talks_by_women_that_everyon#t-908841