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Books
Stepping Out of Line: Lessons for Women Who Want it Their Way … In Life, In Love, and at Work
by Nell Merlino
Written by the woman who created “Take Our Daughters to Work Day,” Stepping Out of Line will resonate with any woman who has ever struggled to get her voice heard and figure out how to build a life aligned with what she cares about most. Even though some of the stories Nell tells date back to the 1980s, both the stories and her struggles resonate as strongly today as they did then. Timeless advice, from a leader in women’s voice and rights.– LW
See Jane Win: The Rimm Report on How 1,000 Girls Became Successful Women
by Slyvia Rimm, Ph.D.
This book is based on Rimm’s research into what elements, in a girl’s childhood, led to strong, successful women. She surveyed successful women in various fields, and traced back, in their lives, what elements seemed to be important in their success. This book is the summary of what she concluded is most important, written for parents of growing girls.
– LW
Smart Girls: A New Psychology of Girls, Women, and Giftedness
by Barbara A. Kerr, Ph.D.
In this book (and in a sequel: Smart Girls in the 21st Century), psychologist Barbara Kerr looks at what makes women successful and happy. Her research in this book began with following her high school classmates through their lives, looking for patterns between elements in their upbringing and lives, and how happy and successful they judged their lives to be, down the line. She then looks at those elements against other studies, and other famous women’s lives. Readable and insightful information about what matters in woman’s life.
– LW
The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence
by Rachel Simmons
In this book, Rachel Simmons zeroes in on a problem faced by many middle and upper-class European-American girls: the pressure to be “good”––inoffensive, compliant, and endlessly polite, even at the expense of their own authentic voice. Based on her work with adolescent girls in her Girls Leadership Initiative program, she offers not only anecdotes that illustrate the problem––including the role mothers often unwittingly play in the syndrome––but also specific advice about how parents and educators can help counter that pressure in girls who feel it. – LW
Latina Girls: Voices of Adolescent Strength in the United States
edited by Jill Denner and Bianca L. Guzman
In a sense, Latina Girls is a kind of companion book to “The Curse of the Good Girl.” Not all girls struggle with the same cultural expectations or pressures; notably, girls of color face very different barriers, and the particular culture a girl is raised in will result in different gender expectations she has to work to fit with or fight. The book brings together research on Latina girls that show surprising reserves of resiliency and strength. While it may resonate most strongly for Latina women, it is also illuminating for women raised in different cultural communities; highlighting many of the types of pressures and strengths every woman grapples with. – LW
The Freedom Writers Diary Teacher’s Guide
by Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers Foundation
I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone working with young people––or even adults––who is interested in helping them find a strong and authentic sense of self and voice, while learning the value of community and action. This is a companion to “The Freedom Writers Diaries,” a book of diary entries by tough high school kids that became the basis for a 2007 movie starring Hilary Swank, about a Long Beach teacher who transformed the lives of her students. Erin Gruwell formed the Freedom Writers as a way of engaging disadvantaged and troubled youth with literature. But what she really did––and why her work with them was so transformational––was to help them find their authentic voices and learn the power of using those voices to change their lives and the world, even as they learned to respect others and the power of community. Fabulous exercises to help anyone think more inclusively, more honestly, and have pride and respect for both themselves and others. – LW
Project Renewment: The First Retirement Model for Career Women
by Bernice Bratter and Helen Dennis
This is a fabulous must-read for any woman who’s trying to figure out who she is, and how she can still get her authentic voice heard in the world, outside of a career job. Written by two psychologists who were facing retirement and realizing they weren’t prepared for the transition, it offers insights on some of the pressing issues career women face, if they’re thinking of leaving their titles and job identities behind: “Who am I without a business card?” “Is Busy Better?” “Back to the Kitchen,” to name just a few. It also outlines how women can replicate what the authors did to address those issues for themselves: they formed a “renewment” discussion group of like-minded women. More than 15 years later, their group still meets, and that first group has since given rise to many others around the world. Practical advice from women who make any other woman struggling with who she is without her job, or in transition, feel not alone anymore. – LW
Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself
by Kristin Neff, Ph.D.
There are many, many self-help books in print that can help women working to find or develop a more authentic sense of self or voice. I’m including this particular one here because one of the biggest stumbling blocks women face, in trying to get the courage to look honestly at themselves and develop the self-awareness they need to find their authentic voice, is a fear of what they will find if they look too hard. I don’t agree with everything in this book, but it’s an important perspective: women tend to be over-critical of themselves, so if we want to find our true selves, we need to develop the ability to have compassion for the imperfect but irreplaceable women we are. – LW
The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace
by Lynn Povich
In 1970, 46 women employees of the weekly news magazine Newsweek filed a class-action lawsuit, charging the publication with discrimination in hiring and discrimination. Lynn Povich was one of the leaders of that action. The women were not radicals. They were well-educated, “well-mannered” women, incensed at being denied work opportunities simply because they were women. Any woman who wasn’t born before 1970 (or was too little to be aware of the lawsuit), should read this book to appreciate how much has changed … and how much hasn’t, in terms of a woman’s struggle to have her voice heard in the workplace, and to have the same opportunities to express her talent and voice as a man. – LW
Feminist Fight Club: A Survival Manual for a Sexist Workplace
by Jessica Bennett
Warning: this is an edgy book. The strident tone it takes doesn’t always agree with my sensibilities, and older women might warn that a fighting approach doesn’t always win the day. However: I think it probably resonates with many younger women who are still fighting battles in the workplace to be treated as intelligent, equal partners in industry and commerce. And its advice for women to band together and support each other is one of the most important changes women need to make in order to improve workplace environments for all women. – LW
