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Women Kind: Unlocking the Power of Women Supporting Women
Women are rallying together in a massive and unstoppable force to make their voices heard around the world in ways we have never seen before.
When Dr Kirstin Ferguson, an Australian company director, decided she was fed up with the vicious online abuse of women, she turned the tables and used social media to create the #CelebratingWomen campaign, profiling two women from anywhere in the world and every walk of life, every day for a year. The response was overwhelming.
In Women Kind, Ferguson joins Walkley award-winning journalist and leading commentator on women in the workplace Catherine Fox to examine how women's shared clout is transforming communities, workplaces and leadership; show that every woman is a role model; and challenge the idea that women regularly turn on each other for scarce seats at the top table. Ferguson and Fox urge us to get on board and forget the old saying that when a woman climbs the corporate ladder, she needs to send it back down to help one other woman. What's needed is a fishing net to bring up many women together, all supporting each other.
When Dr Kirstin Ferguson, an Australian company director, decided she was fed up with the vicious online abuse of women, she turned the tables and used social media to create the #CelebratingWomen campaign, profiling two women from anywhere in the world and every walk of life, every day for a year. The response was overwhelming.
In Women Kind, Ferguson joins Walkley award-winning journalist and leading commentator on women in the workplace Catherine Fox to examine how women's shared clout is transforming communities, workplaces and leadership; show that every woman is a role model; and challenge the idea that women regularly turn on each other for scarce seats at the top table. Ferguson and Fox urge us to get on board and forget the old saying that when a woman climbs the corporate ladder, she needs to send it back down to help one other woman. What's needed is a fishing net to bring up many women together, all supporting each other.
- GenresNonfictionFeminismWomens
304 pages, Paperback
Published July 23, 2019
24 people are currently reading
340 people want to read
About the author
Kirstin Ferguson
4 books27 followersDr Kirstin Ferguson is a company director, columnist, keynote speaker and executive coach. Beginning her career as an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, Kirstin has held roles that have included chief executive officer of an international consulting firm, and acting chair and deputy chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She has sat on boards of both publicly-listed and privately-listed companies for more than a decade.
Kirstin has a PhD in leadership and culture, as well as honours degrees in Law and History. She is an adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology Business School, where she was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 2020, and is a Sir Winston Churchill Fellow. She was included on Thinkers50 Radar List in 2021 and shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Award in Leadership.
Kirstin writes a weekly column on leadership and work in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and is also a contributor to the Australian Financial Review and Forbes.
Kirstin has a PhD in leadership and culture, as well as honours degrees in Law and History. She is an adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology Business School, where she was named Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 2020, and is a Sir Winston Churchill Fellow. She was included on Thinkers50 Radar List in 2021 and shortlisted for the Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Award in Leadership.
Kirstin writes a weekly column on leadership and work in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and is also a contributor to the Australian Financial Review and Forbes.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 28, 2018
Women Kind was written earlier this year on the back of the highly successful #celebratingwomen campaign run by Kirstin Ferguson. This campaign is used as the backbone of the book which proposes that women will progress much faster with the support of other women. So far so good.
What I like about the book:
One: it rightly challenges the Queen Bee mythology that powerful women don't support other women. The sections that discuss this mythology are well researched and based on my 30-year career - accurate.
Two: it addresses, albeit briefly the frustrating mythologies surrounding confidence and women.
Three: it encourages women to network and support one another.
What I don't like:
It reads just like a book that was written in a hurry. While it covers the issues well it doesn't offer any groundbreaking new insights, except perhaps the Queen Bee discussion, which was excellent. And it reads like a newspaper article, or a report, rather than a non-fiction book (too many quotes, not enough discussion).
I'd read this in serial form as a series of newspaper columns. I'd listen to sections of it as a podcast and it performs well on book tour because the subject matter is great to discuss but I don't think it works as a book.
I feel terrible saying this because I respect the authors highly and applaud them for the work they've done to amplify women's voices and this subject matter. So I say, thank you Kirstin and Catherine for pulling this together, I'm sorry not to be able to give you an extra couple of stars xx
What I like about the book:
One: it rightly challenges the Queen Bee mythology that powerful women don't support other women. The sections that discuss this mythology are well researched and based on my 30-year career - accurate.
Two: it addresses, albeit briefly the frustrating mythologies surrounding confidence and women.
Three: it encourages women to network and support one another.
What I don't like:
It reads just like a book that was written in a hurry. While it covers the issues well it doesn't offer any groundbreaking new insights, except perhaps the Queen Bee discussion, which was excellent. And it reads like a newspaper article, or a report, rather than a non-fiction book (too many quotes, not enough discussion).
I'd read this in serial form as a series of newspaper columns. I'd listen to sections of it as a podcast and it performs well on book tour because the subject matter is great to discuss but I don't think it works as a book.
I feel terrible saying this because I respect the authors highly and applaud them for the work they've done to amplify women's voices and this subject matter. So I say, thank you Kirstin and Catherine for pulling this together, I'm sorry not to be able to give you an extra couple of stars xx
October 25, 2018
This book emphases Women empowerment and reinforcement to help women to stand for their right against harassment and abuse of men. Good book to celebrating women but it needs more outstanding stories.
October 19, 2018
This is a wonderful memoir which highlights the conception, campaign, operation and achievement of Dr Kirstin Ferguson’s Year of Celebrating Women #celebratingwomen. In 2017 she undertook to compile and post to Twitter two profiles a day of different women and their achievements. Women were invited via social media to submit their personal information by answering four questions about themselves. Social media provided a forum where their views could be heard and valued without moderation or being shut down, and it gave women a voice who were accomplishing in all spheres of life.
In a comparable way that the #metoo phenomenon spread universally so to did #celebratingwomen and 2017 became the year that women would not be silenced and were speaking to one another – and with men – about how they wanted to be recognised and valued.
Existing women’s networks were often undervalued as they might be about unpaid work and seen as women’s business however #celebratingwomen gave women opportunity to see and appreciate their worth and made their networking cohesive and even stronger. Shared stories shared showed similarities and it also became apparent that there are role models everywhere. Thus the sheer breadth of the profile drew attention to how many women with skill and expertise were in a community not just at the top. This revealed how to create real inclusion so that other women could celebrate when they saw the profiles of other women who were like them and celebrate their being included and inspiring.
This positive ripple effect was important not only to see breadth of the talent available but also to enable high profile women to define what they do and not what people think they do.
Some of the other matters discussed in the book include the diminishment of the Queen Bee, the cracking of the confidence myth, the imposter syndrome, the highlighting of the joy of women’s friendship and social networks, and the minimal appearance of trolls in an overwhelming arena of positive celebrations.
In a comparable way that the #metoo phenomenon spread universally so to did #celebratingwomen and 2017 became the year that women would not be silenced and were speaking to one another – and with men – about how they wanted to be recognised and valued.
Existing women’s networks were often undervalued as they might be about unpaid work and seen as women’s business however #celebratingwomen gave women opportunity to see and appreciate their worth and made their networking cohesive and even stronger. Shared stories shared showed similarities and it also became apparent that there are role models everywhere. Thus the sheer breadth of the profile drew attention to how many women with skill and expertise were in a community not just at the top. This revealed how to create real inclusion so that other women could celebrate when they saw the profiles of other women who were like them and celebrate their being included and inspiring.
This positive ripple effect was important not only to see breadth of the talent available but also to enable high profile women to define what they do and not what people think they do.
Some of the other matters discussed in the book include the diminishment of the Queen Bee, the cracking of the confidence myth, the imposter syndrome, the highlighting of the joy of women’s friendship and social networks, and the minimal appearance of trolls in an overwhelming arena of positive celebrations.
February 3, 2019
Lovely and inspiring book chronicling the #CelebratingWomen Twitter campaign and many of the women that appeared in it. There were some interesting musings on the power of organisations and individuals to effect change to improve gender equality, but nothing that really stuck with me. Essentially, we should all help each other out, and women shouldn't feel guilty about helping other women, because men already benefit from so many other biases. Well, good, that makes me feel a bit better about the two women-only networks of which I am part, and continuing to point out when someone (usually someone quiet in a meeting) has had an idea and is not being given credit. But I am not sure that I needed a whole book to tell me that!
The tone of the book is uniformly positive, but I found this a little grating after a while. It didn't have much on how to actually solve problems if the women around you are unsupportive. For instance, they dismiss Queen Bee syndrome as non-existent, and that entertaining such a stereotype will make it harder as a junior woman to make the most from your relationship with senior women. But in my case, I had never heard of the syndrome before, and yet found it made the actions of several senior women I have worked with suddenly make sense. The conflict between the inspiring tone and the reality around me (in my male-dominated profession) sometimes made be a bit frustrated. Overall this book is good as a celebration of women, but there are not really that many tips on "unlocking the power".
The tone of the book is uniformly positive, but I found this a little grating after a while. It didn't have much on how to actually solve problems if the women around you are unsupportive. For instance, they dismiss Queen Bee syndrome as non-existent, and that entertaining such a stereotype will make it harder as a junior woman to make the most from your relationship with senior women. But in my case, I had never heard of the syndrome before, and yet found it made the actions of several senior women I have worked with suddenly make sense. The conflict between the inspiring tone and the reality around me (in my male-dominated profession) sometimes made be a bit frustrated. Overall this book is good as a celebration of women, but there are not really that many tips on "unlocking the power".
January 10, 2019
I enjoyed this book but it didn't necessarily blow me away, probably more like 3.5 stars. The book is centered around the #CelebratingWomen Twitter movement started by Kirstin Ferguson, extending on it to show how women show leadership and form networks, and what workplaces need to do towards gender equality. The first chapter is a bit of a bio on Ferguson and how her experiences lead to the movement. Quite a few women featured in the campaign are quoted throughout the book, and at the back there is a list of all the women which was a nice touch. Overall I found the book to be well written, but the chapters didn't always seem to flow together and there was a few spots which weren't particularly well edited (i.e. a short section being repeated basically word for word within a page). I think I'd have probably enjoyed this book more if I hadn't already read Stop Fixing Women by Catherine Fox (which is great by the way), as some parts I definitely felt like I'd heard before.
November 22, 2020
A got so much from this book! I loved learning about how social media campaigns can create such powerful positive social change for women and the importance of genuine connection with honouring the stories and resilience of every day women who are all heroes in their own right to support and bring women together through building empathy and compassion.
March 22, 2025
An enjoyable read about the power of community and tangible ways that we can support women at work and in our communities. It explores Kirstin's #celebratewomen campaign and how a grassroots movement inspired many positive actions, and Catherine's career and motherhood journeys. Well researched and easy to read.
October 2, 2020
Very much a “women in business” book...
Loved the message and the campaign behind the inspiration for it. Wish it touched a little more on female entrepreneurs and breaking through societal systems as well as expected roles.
Overall it’s well written and has heart
Loved the message and the campaign behind the inspiration for it. Wish it touched a little more on female entrepreneurs and breaking through societal systems as well as expected roles.
Overall it’s well written and has heart
December 14, 2018
I found sections of this book really brilliant but as another person commented, it seemed rushed and I would have liked more in-depth background research and more about the participants perspectives.
February 7, 2019
I enjoyed this book. I liked the focus on every woman no matter their circumstances being an inspiration in their lives.
May 31, 2025
Interesting presentation of a feminist event and showing how powerful women are, working together.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews