Chapter 4: Pulling a Chair up to the Table: A Critical Analysis of the “Lean In” Self-Help Movement and Its Implications for Individual Women and Women’s Equality at Work

Over the last several years, Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, has rolled out a “lean in” movement, which seeks to inspire women to individually and collectively lean in to their careers and leadership as a path to addressing persistent gender inequality in the workplace. Sandberg’s message has struck a deep chord, and there is weighty evidence of the impact it is having on public and private discourse concerning gender inequality and women at work. Her 2013 book, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, sold 140,000 copies in its first week of publication (Post Staff Report, 2013), and it has topped bestseller lists including Amazon.com and The New York Times. At the time of this chapter’s writing (2015), Sandberg had also generated a large virtual community in the form of 21,097 discussion groups called “Lean In Circles,” across 97 countries (leanin.org, 2015). Additionally, a talk delivered at TEDWomen by Sandberg on “Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders” (Sandberg, 2010) had over five million views. In the wake of Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, many new self-help books on the art of how to navigate one’s life in the context of work and leadership have appeared. For example, Katty Kay and Clair Shipman weighed in with The Confidence Code (2014), Kirsten Gillibrand published her memoir Off the Sidelines (2014), Arianna Huffington urged readers to Thrive (2014), and former Nasty Gal CEO Sophia Amoruso instructed women in how to be a #GIRLBOSS (Amoruso, 2014). Almost all of these books reference the book Lean In, apparently seeking to ride its coattails, and Sheryl Sandberg herself publically recommends many of them on their front or back covers. Finally, a wide range of op-eds and critiques with provocative titles and prominent commentators—“Yes, You Can” (Slaughter, 2013), “Pompom Girl for Feminism” (Dowd, 2013), “Dig Deep Beyond Lean In” (hooks, 2013), “I Leaned In: Why Sheryl Sandberg’s ‘Circles’ Actually Help” (Bennett, 2013)—demonstrate the resonance of Sandberg’s message, the range of reactions, and the heatedness of the debate about whether her approach is the best solution.