Lean Out: How to Dismantle the Corporate Barriers that Hold Women Back

by Maureen F. Fitzgerald

Why Women Still Fall off the Corporate Ladder

Despite all the talk of diversity and empowerment, women are still falling off corporate ladders like never before.  Although women have been graduating in equal numbers to men for almost 40 years, they remain absent in the highest levels in public and private corporations. While individual women go about seeking work-life balance, board members and executives scratch their chins wondering why things are not changing for women.

What many leaders do not know

Academics have been studying these issues for years and know exactly why women are not advancing and what’s really holding them back. They know that woman face significant barriers and biases, they know that many expensive diversity reports are collecting dust on shelves and they can’t understand why their data remains hidden. 

This book is a synthesis of this research, written in plain language. It not only describes the 20 main barriers that women face but also provides 20 specific strategies to be used by any organization wishing to advance women, including:

don’t fall for the pipeline theory stop telling women to lean in notice the absurd expectations we place on women don't expect women to be mini-men reject outdated stereotypes 

Unlike other books that urge women to work harder and smarter, this book focuses on the corporate playing field consisting of the corporate model, workplace cultures and out-dated mindsets.  

If we really want women to succeed we must stop asking women to change and instead start tackling the very real barriers that are holding women back.

166 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 26, 2016

About the author

Maureen F. Fitzgerald, PhD, JD, LLM, BComm practiced law for 20 years and has written 11 books, many articles and hundreds of blogs. She has a business and degree, a law degree, a master of law degree from the London School of Economics and a doctorate degree. In her former life, Maureen was a policy lawyer, mediator and professor at two universities. As a leader of thoughts and people, Maureen writes and speaks often about social justice, equality and mindfulness. Her motto: Sharing the right ideas at the right time can change the world.