Lean in. You, deserve more. “When it comes time to settle down, find someone who wants an equal partner. Someone who thinks women should be smart, opinionated and ambitious. Someone who values fairness and expects or, even better, wants to do his share in the home. These men exist and, trust me, over time, nothing is sexier.” – Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Have you ever noticed, that usually in a corporate environment the numbers of women and men in entry-level positions are largely similar, however when it comes to senior-level positions there is very often a huge gap. This is especially true in the high-tech and finance industries. These industries are normally dominated by men in the respective workplaces. Further proof of an overall lack of women in senior level corporate positions is evidenced by the fact that only 21 of the Fortune 500 companies are led by women. Of these 21 Fortune 500 companies lead by women, only 14% of executive officer positions are held by women. This gap is even worse for women of color, who hold just 5% of top corporate positions. These statistics seem to indicate that the truth turns out to be that the senior corporate world, especially as it relates to the top global companies, is ruled in large part by men. It can further be said that even though after so many years of women struggling for female rights and gender equity in the workplace that equality has not yet arrived in the workplace for the upper most levels of senior management in the corporate world.
“We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change” ― Sheryl Sandberg.
Sheryl Sandberg, inspires women to challenge the status quo, encourages women to work harder in their careers, and to fight for a world and workplace of true equity social and gender equality. This is because she has exhibited through her own career as an example that women deserve further advancement in the corporate world and to have a greater share of the senior leadership positions in the corporate world. Sheryl Sandberg, not only as a business woman has demonstrated tremendous success in her own career, but she has also served as major feminist in society and has been active in promoting women’s rights.
She was recognized as the 7th Most Powerful Women in 2016 globally, the 14th most successful of America’s Self-Made Women for 2016, and is also on the list of the Richest Women in the World for 2016 by Forbes.
“There is no perfect fit when you’re looking for the next big thing to do. You have to take opportunities and make an opportunity fit for you, rather than the other way around. The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have” ― Sheryl Sandberg.
Sheryl Sandberg was born in 1969 in Washington, D.C from a Jewish family. She had always been the top student in class at school and graduated from Harvard with B.A. in economics with excellent grades. Later on after she earned her M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School, she worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company. After that, she served for Larry Summers, then Treasury Secretary, as a chief of staff. And in 2001 she moved to Silicon Valley and joined Google Inc. working as a Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations for 7 years. In 2008, she started serving for Facebook as a COO successfully boosting revenues by 66-fold.
“Women need to shift from thinking “I’m not ready to do that” to thinking “I want to do that- and I’ll learn by doing it.” ― Sheryl Sandberg
As one of the most successful business women in the world, Sheryl Sandberg gradually realized the gender inequality in business world and released her first book, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, to advocate for having more female voices in positions of power to create equitable opportunities for everybody. As she said in her book,
“A truly equal world would be one where women ran half our countries and companies and men ran half our homes.” ― Sheryl Sandberg
In November 2015, she donated $31 million in Facebook stock to a charitable fund, the majority of which will go to LeanIn.org, an org. Lean In, as a NGO, has grown all over the world, continuing to support women in the workplace and women’s empowerment groups universally.
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Written by: Blanche Huo
About GC4W: The Global Connections for Women Foundation is not-for-profit charity organization that believes in women and girls — and their rights to create new opportunities for themselves and their communities.
