A Good Time to be a Girl: Don’t Lean In, Change the System. Helena Morrissey

      

      

       Copyright

      William Collins

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.WilliamCollinsBooks.com

      This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2018

      Copyright © Helena Morrissey 2018

      Cover design by Heike Schüssler

      Graphs and charts by Martin Brown

      Helena Morrissey asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      While every effort has been made to obtain permission to use copyrighted material reproduced herein, the publishers will be glad to rectify any omissions in future editions.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780008292508

      Ebook Edition © February 2018 ISBN: 9780008296391

      Version: 2018-05-11

      

       Dedication

      In memory of my wonderful grandmothers, Irene and Amy, who did not have the opportunities we have today.

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Frontispiece

       Dedication

       Preface

       1 A tale of two career women

       2 New leadership required

3 The 30% Club: the strength of feminine power

       4 Men, women, equal, different

       5 Diversity of thought: welcome until anyone disagrees!

       6 How CEOs can break the diversity barrier

       7 ‘Get’cha head in the game!’

       8 Camp CEO

       9 Gender equality: good news for men and boys too

       10 We can write the future together

       Afterword

       Notes

       Acknowledgements

       Index

       About the Author

       About the Publisher

       Preface

      It’s a good time to be a girl! In all honesty, I don’t think I could have written that unequivocally before now. Of course, I’ve seen real progress for women over my fifty-year lifetime, thirty-year career in a male-dominated industry and twenty-five years of motherhood, beginning with one son and now (a final tally) nine children, six girls and three boys. It’s certainly been – increasingly – a better time to be a girl. As you read my story I hope you will see so much to celebrate about this progress that we’ve already made, and how you can create your own opportunities for success, whatever stage you are at in life. I recognise now that I made some ‘lucky’ choices along the way; by seeing what works and what doesn’t, my hope is that you might leave much less to chance.

      But today’s opportunity is so much greater than the unfinished business of the past – and that’s why I’ve written this book now. Gender equality is a well-worn subject but it is not one we have mastered. Despite the huge body of literature, of advice, theory and opinion, the reality is that still only a small number of women have been making it to the top or feel they are fulfilling their potential. Many more tell me they feel discouraged about their prospects, unfulfilled or conflicted in their multiple roles as mothers or carers with careers. They can’t see the linkage between their own reality and gender equality efforts that often seem targeted at a narrow group of white, privileged and highly educated women, rather than at all women.

      Companies, too, are frustrated by limited progress in the numbers of senior women after many years of feeling they are doing a lot to encourage their female and other ‘diverse’ talent. Sometimes, the result of all these special initiatives has – inadvertently – been to do more harm than good; difference can seem difficult rather than desirable.

      And yet, I am more optimistic today than ever before. I believe that we – men and women, working together – have an unprecedented opportunity to create a new, more successful, quite different approach, one that will not just create more possibilities for girls, but