What Leaning-In really means

“It’s time to cheer on girls and women who want to sit at the table,” writes Sheryl Sandberg; former McKinsey Consultant, Chief of Staff to U.S. Treasure, Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, and now as the Chief Operating Officer at Facebook; in her book Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead.

Sandberg’s book pushes buttons and reignites debate borne out of the feminist movement in the 70s and 80s. Her book is about gender equality, but it is not a Feminine Mystique because back then, women were non-existent in the boardroom. Today, gender equality in developed nations faces new challenges: a woman’s right to work, but more importantly, a woman’s access to work.

Sandberg dares to talk about the unspoken conversations that men and women have in their professional lives, the challenges that come with shattering the glass ceiling, and the cost of embracing ambition.

Much of the criticism fired at Sandberg is that she is in a position to be able to make these choices, and too far removed from the issues facing women struggling to make ends meet because they are from low socio-economic backgrounds or lacking support at work or home. It’s easy to tell someone to “lean in” when they have a degree and are already in the workforce, it’s harder when they can’t find a job or afford childcare facilities because their choices are limited.

My first job was at Kentucky Fried Chicken, and some of the women I worked with back when I was 15, are still there. These women are not able to have same work-life discussion that someone like me will have in a few years time, or someone like Sandberg has working for Facebook.

Whilst Sandberg’s book doesn’t cater to these problems specifically, it still has merit. Because whether one calls it a non-ideological boardroom approach, a “fourth wave” of feminism, or the privileged leveraging of women who already have power and success, Sandberg’s approach brings something new and different to the table.

Why? Because it is important to recognise that Sandberg didn’t write this book for every woman. We live in a world where discrimination and disparity is nuanced, complex and difficult to read. Real challenges still exist for women whether they are at home, in the workforce, from low socio-economic backgrounds, or of colour.

But for the women who are in a position to get the skills, the education and the access to lean in, it means that there is a conversation happening where women can have a say in creating and forming a variety of support systems, such as education, health care, and affordable housing, in order to change the status quo. This is where women can change the whole dialogue when it comes to choice, feminism and work-life balance.

Choice is something critical in this new movement of gender equality in the workforce. We have the freedom to make choices – to get higher education, to work, to have a family. But sometimes one choice means sacrificing another, at other times it's a struggle to balance both. It is not as simple as just saying yes or no, it’s about doing more.

It’s been less than a century since women were given a right to vote, and since The Feminine Mystique created a buzz in the lives of women who didn’t have access to education, and beyond marriage, motherhood and jobs beyond nursing and teaching. It has taken legislation, but more the voices of women in the workplace to break through barriers and fight for inclusion.

If feminism’s goal is to give all women an equal shot based on their abilities regardless of their gender, then maybe the Lean-In movement does exactly that – it challenges young women by reviving a debate that affects us in our everyday lives, where we ask questions such as why Australia ranks first in terms of women’s educational attainment, but 45th for their labour-force participation.

Astha Rajvanshi