Sexism In Sandberg

Lean in, is a book that chronicles the struggles that women have in the workplace, especially the struggles women face due to gender-biased beliefs. Sheryl Sandberg, the author, gives many examples of her experiences and the experiences of her co-workers and acquaintances. In addition, the book is full of sited research studies that support and explain the gender-biased issues she talks about. Such studies prove the claim that sexism is not a fantasy. Sexism was and is present in today`s world and women need to lift their voices up. Sandberg grew up in a family that believed girls can do anything that boys can. Both can play all kinds of sports, both can pursue the career path they desire, and both can be equally successful in the workplace. However,
when Sandberg grew up, she realized that gender equality is not a truth for everybody. In the first chapter, the author talks about the leadership ambition gap. She explains how women are statistically less likely to pursue leadership roles. Such situation can be explained by how, in today`s society, ambitious women are not as well accepted as ambitious men are. Additionally, people usually believe that when a woman has two roles (e.g. personal life and work life) she cannot be totally committed and excel in both. When we see someone who is a mom, has a job, and invests time on herself, we tend to say “I do not know how she does it”, as if women were not capable of fulfilling several task and responsibilities. Moving on, Sandberg also talks about the “impostor syndrome” and how women are more likely to experience it than men. The impostor syndrome occurs when capable people feel fraudulent when they are praised for their accomplishments. Thus, they would say that any achievement is because of the help of others. (hkjkhk). Yet, receiving other`s feedback and advices is a big contribution to one`s success, we need to believe that we are brilliant and capable of achieving great things. As Sandberg says, in order to grow we need to trust in our own abilities and talents. Furthermore, success and likeability seem to have a high correlation to gender. We evaluate people based on stereotypes. Thus, professional achievement and leadership roles are associated to men. Sandberg says that we need to stop judging people because of their gender, their skin color, and the way they look. In fact, this is leading us to judge ourselves and ultimately, putting ourselves down. The author also encourages women to have dreams and set goals.
These goals should be long and short term. Long term goals do not have to be specific. These goals could be as vague as saying “I want to travel”. In addition, short term goals should be our “18 month plans” (nnlk). These plans may seem impossible but we, women, need to start taking risk for stability reduces our opportunities for growth. Moving on, another interesting topic mentioned in the book is mentorship. Trying to find a mentor is something in which many of us invest a lot of time. However, according to Sandberg´s experience, the strongest relationships spring out in the right time, there is no need to go around and ask among our peers if someone wants to be our mentor. Chapter six emphasized the idea of seeking and speaking the truth. Being honest and giving your opinion is not an easy thing to do, especially when the opinions may be taken as criticism. We need to find the fine line between being cruelly honest but carefully honest instead. Receiving feedback puts us in an uncomfortable situation, particularly when we know that we are wrong. Nevertheless, recognizing our mistakes and learning from other´s advice will help us to grow
enormously.