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Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work
INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
The founder of Girls Who Code and bestselling author of Brave, Not Perfect confronts the “big lie” of corporate feminism and presents a bold plan to address the burnout and inequity harming America’s working women today.
We told women that to break glass ceilings and succeed in their careers, all they needed to do is dream big, raise their hands, and lean in. But data tells a different story. Historic numbers of women left their jobs in 2021, resulting in their lowest workforce participation since 1988. Women’s unemployment rose to nearly fifteen percent, and globally women lost over $800 billion in wages. Fifty-one percent of women say that their mental health has declined, while anxiety and depression rates have skyrocketed.
In this urgent and rousing call to arms, Reshma Saujani dismantles the myth of “having it all” and lifts the burden we place on individual women to be primary caregivers, and to work around a system built for and by men. The time has come, she argues, for innovative corporate leadership, government intervention, and sweeping culture shift; it’s time to Pay Up.
Through powerful data and personal narrative, Saujani shows that the cost of inaction—for families, for our nation’s economy, and for women themselves—is too great to ignore. She lays out four key steps for creating lasting empower working women, educate corporate leaders, revise our narratives about what it means to be successful, and advocate for policy reform.
Both a direct call to action for business leaders and a pragmatic set of tools for women themselves, Pay Up offers a bold vision for change as America defines the future of work.
The founder of Girls Who Code and bestselling author of Brave, Not Perfect confronts the “big lie” of corporate feminism and presents a bold plan to address the burnout and inequity harming America’s working women today.
We told women that to break glass ceilings and succeed in their careers, all they needed to do is dream big, raise their hands, and lean in. But data tells a different story. Historic numbers of women left their jobs in 2021, resulting in their lowest workforce participation since 1988. Women’s unemployment rose to nearly fifteen percent, and globally women lost over $800 billion in wages. Fifty-one percent of women say that their mental health has declined, while anxiety and depression rates have skyrocketed.
In this urgent and rousing call to arms, Reshma Saujani dismantles the myth of “having it all” and lifts the burden we place on individual women to be primary caregivers, and to work around a system built for and by men. The time has come, she argues, for innovative corporate leadership, government intervention, and sweeping culture shift; it’s time to Pay Up.
Through powerful data and personal narrative, Saujani shows that the cost of inaction—for families, for our nation’s economy, and for women themselves—is too great to ignore. She lays out four key steps for creating lasting empower working women, educate corporate leaders, revise our narratives about what it means to be successful, and advocate for policy reform.
Both a direct call to action for business leaders and a pragmatic set of tools for women themselves, Pay Up offers a bold vision for change as America defines the future of work.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published March 15, 2022
102 people are currently reading
3997 people want to read
About the author
Reshma Saujani
20 books14.2k followersReshma Saujani is the Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, a national non-profit organization working to close the gender gap in technology and change the image of what a programmer looks like and does. With their 7-week Summer Immersion Program, 2-week specialized Campus Program, after school Clubs, and a 13-book New York Times best-selling series, they are leading the movement to inspire, educate, and equip young women with the computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities. By the end of the 2018 academic year, Girls Who Code will have reached over 50 thousand girls in all 50 states and several US territories. The results speak for themselves: 88% of alumni have declared a CS major/minor or are more interested in CS because of Girls Who Code
Reshma began her career as an attorney and activist. In 2010, she surged onto the political scene as the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress. During the race, Reshma visited local schools and saw the gender gap in computing classes firsthand, which led her to start Girls Who Code. She has also served as Deputy Public Advocate for New York City and ran a spirited campaign for Public Advocate in 2013.
Reshma’s TED talk, “Teach girls, bravery not perfection,” has more than three million views and has sparked a national conversation about how we’re raising our girls. She is the author of two books, Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World, the first in a 13-book series about girls and coding which debuted as a New York Times bestseller, and Women Who Don’t Wait In Line, in which she advocates for a new model of female leadership focused on embracing risk and failure, promoting mentorship and sponsorship, and boldly charting your own course — personally and professionally.
Reshma is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and Yale Law School. She’s been named one of Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders, Fortune’s 40 Under 40, a WSJ Magazine Innovator of the Year, one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in New York by the New York Daily News, CNBC’s Next List, Forbes’s Most Powerful Women Changing the World, Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People, Crain’s New York 40 Under 40, Ad Age’s Creativity 50, Business Insider’s 50 Women Who Are Changing the World, City & State’s Rising Stars, and an AOL / PBS Next MAKER. Saujani serves on the Board of Overseers for the International Rescue Committee, which provides aid to refugees and those impacted by humanitarian crises, and She Should Run, which seeks to increase the number of women in public leadership.
Reshma lives in New York City with her husband, Nihal, their son, Shaan, and their bulldog, Stanley.
Reshma began her career as an attorney and activist. In 2010, she surged onto the political scene as the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress. During the race, Reshma visited local schools and saw the gender gap in computing classes firsthand, which led her to start Girls Who Code. She has also served as Deputy Public Advocate for New York City and ran a spirited campaign for Public Advocate in 2013.
Reshma’s TED talk, “Teach girls, bravery not perfection,” has more than three million views and has sparked a national conversation about how we’re raising our girls. She is the author of two books, Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World, the first in a 13-book series about girls and coding which debuted as a New York Times bestseller, and Women Who Don’t Wait In Line, in which she advocates for a new model of female leadership focused on embracing risk and failure, promoting mentorship and sponsorship, and boldly charting your own course — personally and professionally.
Reshma is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and Yale Law School. She’s been named one of Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders, Fortune’s 40 Under 40, a WSJ Magazine Innovator of the Year, one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in New York by the New York Daily News, CNBC’s Next List, Forbes’s Most Powerful Women Changing the World, Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People, Crain’s New York 40 Under 40, Ad Age’s Creativity 50, Business Insider’s 50 Women Who Are Changing the World, City & State’s Rising Stars, and an AOL / PBS Next MAKER. Saujani serves on the Board of Overseers for the International Rescue Committee, which provides aid to refugees and those impacted by humanitarian crises, and She Should Run, which seeks to increase the number of women in public leadership.
Reshma lives in New York City with her husband, Nihal, their son, Shaan, and their bulldog, Stanley.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
March 26, 2022
Honestly, I had a hard time rating this. I'll give it a 3 because I agree with the points it made, however it should be called Pay up the future of MOTHERS and work. Nothing in the summary indicated that my status as a childless woman would exclude me from the points made or devalue my unpaid work because I don't have a squalling child to look after while I do it. I was pretty disappointed and felt it painted women without children in a less worthy light. But reform is certainly needed in the workplace to level the playing field, and the birthrate will continue to decline if these issues are not addressed. So while it felt gatekeepy it certainly had its merits.
April 20, 2022
Woof. Any book that blames feminism (but cites Lean In as her “feminist” source) instead of capitalism for the labor crisis is no friend of mine. Second wave feminists didn’t force women to “have it all.” They fought for equal pay for equal work and work places free from harassment. If that led to women thinking they could “have it all,” that may have been an unintended byproduct. But, this is a bunch of post feminist appropriation. Had the author read things like Backlash or consulted one gender studies professor, she could have learned a ton. Oh! Further, this BS assumption that, to all women, “have it all” means kids (with free-loading men) and a job in corporate America is just laughable. I wouldn’t have finished it but it was a quick read and I couldn’t look away. lol.
March 21, 2022
It’s no coincidence that I won this book in a giveaway in the midst of looking for a new job, in the midst of two “great” job offers- offers I was ready to take. I needed to soak in this message Reshma Saujani so brilliantly put into words for us.
I have felt a pressing anxiety since my son arrived, and no, it was something other than the fact that he was born at the height of a pandemic (June of 2020 was a wild time to bring a baby earth side). It started with the idea that only 12 short weeks later, I’d have to be back in the office. It started with this clear unbalance I could see unfolding in expectations of our household, regardless of me, not my husband, being the one who works full time. It was my first day back in the office and being told I almost had no job to come back to. Being told I could no longer work from home 2 days a week like I had before going on maternity leave. Being told I would now be taking on another role within the company- on top of my current role and with no additional compensation.
Hopefully others parental leave doesn’t line up so horrendously with a management change as mine did, but regardless of even those changes, motherhood and finding purpose in my work should not have to compete so heavily.
I changed how I interviewed since getting this book. I said no to those first two offers and moved on much more intentionally in my job search. With every interview, as they started off with the, “tell us a little about yourself and how you got to this point in your career,” I’ve shifted how I answer. This book is where I stopped giving more in depth details about my pedigree they see on my resume and instead told each and every one first and foremost there is me, my husband, my son, and my faith, then work. Yes, the book shares stats of how letting on to being a mother actually harms your chance of landing an interview, it I wouldn’t change a single one of those cover letters- a company that doesn’t want to appreciate my being a mother is no company for me. Being a mother is what has made me a stronger, more confident human.
Changing up how I presented myself was the best thing I could ever do. I landed MY dream job (I’m still pinching myself every morning) that I’ll be starting in the coming weeks. And by dream job, yes, it’s a dream to do what I’ll be doing, but it’s also a dream to work where I know me, my family, and my faith can and will come before my job.
This book points out some great ideas that we, our families, employers, and government can do to make this world a better place for moms and women in general. I would challenge each and every person to pick this up and have a go. I know I’ve already sat it on my husband’s nightstand.
This post was supposed to be a book review rather than anything to do with me, but in a sense, this is I hope still a helpful book review. This book helped me take the reins in my job hunt and to find the place that allows me to unapologetically be Mommy first. Thanks, Reshma.
I have felt a pressing anxiety since my son arrived, and no, it was something other than the fact that he was born at the height of a pandemic (June of 2020 was a wild time to bring a baby earth side). It started with the idea that only 12 short weeks later, I’d have to be back in the office. It started with this clear unbalance I could see unfolding in expectations of our household, regardless of me, not my husband, being the one who works full time. It was my first day back in the office and being told I almost had no job to come back to. Being told I could no longer work from home 2 days a week like I had before going on maternity leave. Being told I would now be taking on another role within the company- on top of my current role and with no additional compensation.
Hopefully others parental leave doesn’t line up so horrendously with a management change as mine did, but regardless of even those changes, motherhood and finding purpose in my work should not have to compete so heavily.
I changed how I interviewed since getting this book. I said no to those first two offers and moved on much more intentionally in my job search. With every interview, as they started off with the, “tell us a little about yourself and how you got to this point in your career,” I’ve shifted how I answer. This book is where I stopped giving more in depth details about my pedigree they see on my resume and instead told each and every one first and foremost there is me, my husband, my son, and my faith, then work. Yes, the book shares stats of how letting on to being a mother actually harms your chance of landing an interview, it I wouldn’t change a single one of those cover letters- a company that doesn’t want to appreciate my being a mother is no company for me. Being a mother is what has made me a stronger, more confident human.
Changing up how I presented myself was the best thing I could ever do. I landed MY dream job (I’m still pinching myself every morning) that I’ll be starting in the coming weeks. And by dream job, yes, it’s a dream to do what I’ll be doing, but it’s also a dream to work where I know me, my family, and my faith can and will come before my job.
This book points out some great ideas that we, our families, employers, and government can do to make this world a better place for moms and women in general. I would challenge each and every person to pick this up and have a go. I know I’ve already sat it on my husband’s nightstand.
This post was supposed to be a book review rather than anything to do with me, but in a sense, this is I hope still a helpful book review. This book helped me take the reins in my job hunt and to find the place that allows me to unapologetically be Mommy first. Thanks, Reshma.
March 23, 2022
I finished Reshma Saujani's "Pay Up: Reimagining Motherhood in America" a few days ago. I wasn't a fan of the book so I planned to give it a two-star rating here on Goodreads and not write a review, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had to say something.
Full disclosure - after reading this book, I am pretty sure I am not the target audience. I am childfree by choice. There were few references made to women without children and none of them were flattering (like the "old" childless woman in the elevator saying snarky things about a new mom). Yes, women say nasty and inappropriate things to moms every. damn. day. Women also say nasty and inappropriate things to childless women every. damn. day. Cue: "When are you going to have a baby?" "I want to meet my grandchild before I die." "If you don't have children, who will care for you in your old age?" Meanwhile, someone who wants a baby but is struggling with miscarriages or infertility is trying not to cry and someone who actively chose not to have children is probably rolling their eyes.
What about women struggling to conceive? Foster moms? Women wanting to adopt? How will reimagining motherhood help them? And for those of us who are childfree by choice, the book barely addressed why people make this choice. And then there's those who do not have consistent access or affordable birth control or live in States with strict abortion bans who may end up becoming mothers when they do not want or are not ready to. What about them? How do we help them?
So, that rankled me a bit. As did the privilege. Suggesting that seven to nine hours of sleep each night should be non-negotiable (and that a device with a monthly subscription charge has been a lifesaver in making it happen) or that we must take care of our own health is all well and good, but let's not forget... Many women cannot afford or access these things. Same with remote work and flex schedules. If you are a woman working retail or as an LPN, there are no telecommuting or flex scheduling options.
Legislation and a Marshall Plan for Moms are all well and good, but we need cultural shifts on macro and micro levels to actually make any of these changes a reality.
Full disclosure - after reading this book, I am pretty sure I am not the target audience. I am childfree by choice. There were few references made to women without children and none of them were flattering (like the "old" childless woman in the elevator saying snarky things about a new mom). Yes, women say nasty and inappropriate things to moms every. damn. day. Women also say nasty and inappropriate things to childless women every. damn. day. Cue: "When are you going to have a baby?" "I want to meet my grandchild before I die." "If you don't have children, who will care for you in your old age?" Meanwhile, someone who wants a baby but is struggling with miscarriages or infertility is trying not to cry and someone who actively chose not to have children is probably rolling their eyes.
What about women struggling to conceive? Foster moms? Women wanting to adopt? How will reimagining motherhood help them? And for those of us who are childfree by choice, the book barely addressed why people make this choice. And then there's those who do not have consistent access or affordable birth control or live in States with strict abortion bans who may end up becoming mothers when they do not want or are not ready to. What about them? How do we help them?
So, that rankled me a bit. As did the privilege. Suggesting that seven to nine hours of sleep each night should be non-negotiable (and that a device with a monthly subscription charge has been a lifesaver in making it happen) or that we must take care of our own health is all well and good, but let's not forget... Many women cannot afford or access these things. Same with remote work and flex schedules. If you are a woman working retail or as an LPN, there are no telecommuting or flex scheduling options.
Legislation and a Marshall Plan for Moms are all well and good, but we need cultural shifts on macro and micro levels to actually make any of these changes a reality.
April 21, 2022
The content and concept is true, but she elides over or flat out refuses to fully call out the role that individual men have in this issue. The #1 reason partnered working moms face all the issues outlined in this book is because they’re partnered to men who refuse to pull their weight at home. Saujani’s attitude seems like “well we know men are useless at home and that’s never going to change, so let’s take on the government and employment ecosystem at large instead.” It made the whole ethos of the book fall extremely flat to me. Very disappointing read
April 2, 2022
I usually don't make a trip across town to buy a book full-price on the day it comes out, but I've seen this book promoted and I am a true believer that we need to use lessons from COVID to change workplaces for the better. I was anticipating this book for months. However, after finishing this I was so disappointed. Apologies in advance for the long review, but I have so many feelings.
To be fair, I don't think I'm the target audience for this book. I am a childless woman by choice because I know most of the stats in this book and adding children to an already chaotic career would be awful. I am a person who cares for my mother who is in her 60s and on dialysis. I've been to the UN Commission on the Status of Women which inspired me to continuously research women's unpaid "care work." I feel like the author missed an opportunity to dive into this more in a context other than motherhood.
I think mothers are amazing and I don't disagree with a lot in this book, but it's hard to know who the audience is. At some points, it's (middle-class and affluent) working mothers. In other subheadings, it's employers/workplaces. The continuous switch between audiences makes it clunky to read. There are several figures and studies referenced throughout the text, which adds to the author's credibility but the references aren't incredibly new concepts. For the average working mom reader, it's almost overwhelming to know how to process this and take action. Even though there's a chapter on advocacy, the recommendations are very high-level. For employers reading this (which I am unsure if this book will attract those who honestly SHOULD read this book), the recommendations are also quite broad and expensive. The author does provide good examples of corporate policies but the focus on particular corporations (PricewaterhouseCoopers, Citigroup, Fidelity Investments, Google, etc) makes this irrelevant for the average working-class woman or smaller businesses. Definitely pressure those large corporations to make changes, but it might not make sense for another company and I wouldn't want to see those smaller companies retaliate against their employees for making recommendations that are out of reach.
There were other things that didn't sit well with me, like the minimal discussion of poor and working-class women's issues and smaller employers, a seemingly watered-down overview of the feminist movement tailored to a very specific narrative, and the over-reliance on potential policies of the Biden Administration. I definitely understand the need to address these issues at a national legislative level but making it so specific to this administration puts too much confidence in specific legislators and will quickly date this book. I mean, I also voted for Biden but I realize that governing is complicated, especially during a pandemic, a war in Ukraine, and rising inflation.
Ultimately, I found that the author is a much better speaker and advocate than she is author, as Brave Not Perfect had a lot of similarities with this. This issue is incredibly important, and I give her props for tackling it and promoting her book and the Marshall Plan for Moms. I just wish she would have named it "Pay Up: The Future of MOMS and Work..."
To be fair, I don't think I'm the target audience for this book. I am a childless woman by choice because I know most of the stats in this book and adding children to an already chaotic career would be awful. I am a person who cares for my mother who is in her 60s and on dialysis. I've been to the UN Commission on the Status of Women which inspired me to continuously research women's unpaid "care work." I feel like the author missed an opportunity to dive into this more in a context other than motherhood.
I think mothers are amazing and I don't disagree with a lot in this book, but it's hard to know who the audience is. At some points, it's (middle-class and affluent) working mothers. In other subheadings, it's employers/workplaces. The continuous switch between audiences makes it clunky to read. There are several figures and studies referenced throughout the text, which adds to the author's credibility but the references aren't incredibly new concepts. For the average working mom reader, it's almost overwhelming to know how to process this and take action. Even though there's a chapter on advocacy, the recommendations are very high-level. For employers reading this (which I am unsure if this book will attract those who honestly SHOULD read this book), the recommendations are also quite broad and expensive. The author does provide good examples of corporate policies but the focus on particular corporations (PricewaterhouseCoopers, Citigroup, Fidelity Investments, Google, etc) makes this irrelevant for the average working-class woman or smaller businesses. Definitely pressure those large corporations to make changes, but it might not make sense for another company and I wouldn't want to see those smaller companies retaliate against their employees for making recommendations that are out of reach.
There were other things that didn't sit well with me, like the minimal discussion of poor and working-class women's issues and smaller employers, a seemingly watered-down overview of the feminist movement tailored to a very specific narrative, and the over-reliance on potential policies of the Biden Administration. I definitely understand the need to address these issues at a national legislative level but making it so specific to this administration puts too much confidence in specific legislators and will quickly date this book. I mean, I also voted for Biden but I realize that governing is complicated, especially during a pandemic, a war in Ukraine, and rising inflation.
Ultimately, I found that the author is a much better speaker and advocate than she is author, as Brave Not Perfect had a lot of similarities with this. This issue is incredibly important, and I give her props for tackling it and promoting her book and the Marshall Plan for Moms. I just wish she would have named it "Pay Up: The Future of MOMS and Work..."
April 22, 2022
Very idealistic, but repetitive and a lot more depressing than inspiring.
Also, this might be a personal dislike, but a lot of the book hinged on the author's "Marshall Plan for Moms" which is a TERRIBLE historical metaphor, and that grated me every time I read it. The Marshall plan was far from altruistic on the part of the US. The money going to European countries was intended to develop their economies after the war so a. they wouldn't turn to communism and b. they would be able to actively purchase US goods and participate in the global economy that allowed for the US's postwar economic boom. The Marshall plan is considered by some historians to be the first action taken in the cold war. None of this has any relevance to the author's goals. Obviously, the new deal metaphor is already used with the green new deal, but comparing her plan to Truman's Fair Deal or Johnson's Great Society would have made more sense, and would have made her goals more understandable.
Also, as has been mentioned by most commenters, this book only focuses on what the American workforce needs to look like for mothers. This isn't a bad thing, the specificity of the subject matter allowed for more detailed analysis. But it's something to consider before deciding to read it. It isn't about women in the workforce, it's about (mostly white-collar tbh) working mothers.
But the author did cite all her data to back up her plan, of which there was a lot. So because of that, the book's goals did seem achievable.
Also, this might be a personal dislike, but a lot of the book hinged on the author's "Marshall Plan for Moms" which is a TERRIBLE historical metaphor, and that grated me every time I read it. The Marshall plan was far from altruistic on the part of the US. The money going to European countries was intended to develop their economies after the war so a. they wouldn't turn to communism and b. they would be able to actively purchase US goods and participate in the global economy that allowed for the US's postwar economic boom. The Marshall plan is considered by some historians to be the first action taken in the cold war. None of this has any relevance to the author's goals. Obviously, the new deal metaphor is already used with the green new deal, but comparing her plan to Truman's Fair Deal or Johnson's Great Society would have made more sense, and would have made her goals more understandable.
Also, as has been mentioned by most commenters, this book only focuses on what the American workforce needs to look like for mothers. This isn't a bad thing, the specificity of the subject matter allowed for more detailed analysis. But it's something to consider before deciding to read it. It isn't about women in the workforce, it's about (mostly white-collar tbh) working mothers.
But the author did cite all her data to back up her plan, of which there was a lot. So because of that, the book's goals did seem achievable.
January 7, 2022
There have been many books on this topic, but I appreciated Saujani's perspective on how the pandemic has changed women's lives. I also enjoyed her focus on action and how we can move forward after a difficult time.
April 23, 2022
The title is slightly misleading. This book has a MAJOR focus on mothers and mothers in feminism.
While some points made were insightful and helpful, sand I appreciate the author being honest about their change in perspective, I'm not convinced this was an entirely effective book.
While some points made were insightful and helpful, sand I appreciate the author being honest about their change in perspective, I'm not convinced this was an entirely effective book.
April 29, 2025
Thank you to the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
TL;DR: UGH
The subtitle of this should be “The Future of Mothers and Work” as that is the focus of this.
This book focuses on mothers, lack of support, and burn out in the work place and that is not mentioned at all in the synopsis on the back of the book.
As a single, childless woman in the corporate world, it’s clear I’m not the target audience for this book. Further more, the lack of mentions of women without children in workplace here is ridiculous. If you’re going to title a book “Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think”, INCLUDE ALL WOMEN.
Completely disregarding how women without children are also discriminated against literally undermines the synopsis of the book.
TL;DR: UGH
The subtitle of this should be “The Future of Mothers and Work” as that is the focus of this.
This book focuses on mothers, lack of support, and burn out in the work place and that is not mentioned at all in the synopsis on the back of the book.
As a single, childless woman in the corporate world, it’s clear I’m not the target audience for this book. Further more, the lack of mentions of women without children in workplace here is ridiculous. If you’re going to title a book “Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think”, INCLUDE ALL WOMEN.
Completely disregarding how women without children are also discriminated against literally undermines the synopsis of the book.
March 8, 2022
Very eye-opening and powerful book on gender equity in the workplace. Saujani shows the cost of inaction for families, women and economy through data and personal experience. Pay up is a call to action for business leaders.
July 15, 2022
In just a little over 200 pages, Reshma Saujani delivers useful new information about how the world of work for women has changed. She raises the need for new ways and words to demonstrate how business working where it's men AND women doing the work. Her focus is to understand what is in the OFFICE. That's where so many people work now. And she shows how the COVID-19 time has the powerful thing that made this book useful. Grad students in business should be reading this book in classes.
April 6, 2023
As a young professional with a masters in HR, this book should have been right up my ally. However, this book is annoying. First off it’s titled the Future of WOMEN and work (or something along those lines) and it only refers to MOTHERS. As a female professional, without kids, I kept waiting for my time in the book and it never came.
The solutions she offers are very elitist. Women who work in retail, fast food, nurses, hospitality, construction, and on and on would never be able to get some of her calls to actions from employers.
She at one point even says, you can’t change things if the people around you don’t change and public policy can’t fix anything, then like 4 pages later she tells us fo get involved in public policy. Her friend made an excellent point that all the laws in the world won’t change the fact my boyfriend has only used the vacuum twice in the three years we’ve lived together even though we both work full time jobs.
She also calls for mothers to get a stipend from the government. Without going down a rabbit hole of politics, which I could, how is this inclusive to single fathers, grandparents raising kids, guardians, or non-binary/lgbtq+ couples?
Probably the worst business book I’ve ever read. I just got more irritated with every page.
I would not have even finished it, if I didn’t have a Goodreads quota to read 60 books by the end of the year.
The solutions she offers are very elitist. Women who work in retail, fast food, nurses, hospitality, construction, and on and on would never be able to get some of her calls to actions from employers.
She at one point even says, you can’t change things if the people around you don’t change and public policy can’t fix anything, then like 4 pages later she tells us fo get involved in public policy. Her friend made an excellent point that all the laws in the world won’t change the fact my boyfriend has only used the vacuum twice in the three years we’ve lived together even though we both work full time jobs.
She also calls for mothers to get a stipend from the government. Without going down a rabbit hole of politics, which I could, how is this inclusive to single fathers, grandparents raising kids, guardians, or non-binary/lgbtq+ couples?
Probably the worst business book I’ve ever read. I just got more irritated with every page.
I would not have even finished it, if I didn’t have a Goodreads quota to read 60 books by the end of the year.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 6, 2022
First of all, it's not about all women, only those with children. Second of all, yeah let's support women who work and have children, but it's never going to be enough if we don't support their partners in the same ways--long maternity AND paternity leave, flexible work schedules, respect for boundaries, etc. I'd love to work and have seriously considered it several times, but 2 full time jobs is too much for our family and it's also more time with our kids being cared for by someone else than we'd like. Two part time jobs wouldn't provide benefits. To create more equity in the workplace, we're going to have to be more creative than this.
April 5, 2022
Had I gone into this knowing it was about moms at work I’d have liked it better. Felt like it tried to fold in everyone and it really could given some of the very solid ideas that would improve work life for lots of people but it just did not execute that portion of the message the way I think it wanted to. So solid as a treatise for improving mom life at work but not so solid as “the future of women at work” given the way it so often clumsily equates womanhood with child bearing throughout the text.
May 22, 2022
Eh. I was overly excited to dive into this book after reading the intro on Google. As a women in tech, the intro of this book highlights what I see everyday in industry - a lack of women. More specifically, a lack of working mothers.
The author is rambly and makes the same points over and over, stressing that women are filled with rage. This would probably be a moving speech but fell flat as a book.
The author is rambly and makes the same points over and over, stressing that women are filled with rage. This would probably be a moving speech but fell flat as a book.
May 29, 2022
I think it’s probably a great book for women with children and a bit underwhelming if you don’t have kids. Still, making progress for women with children may make it easier for all of us.
February 23, 2022
I am passionate about equity in the workplace for women and working parents, and praise other changemakers in this arena. It's a tough road. Reshma Saujani, the women’s empowerment activist, founder of Girls Who Code, and mother of 2 boys is talking directly to and about me and to each and every one of you. Well, OK I won’t be so dramatic, Saujani is talking to 23.5 million working mothers in the United States, to the rest of the world, and to each one of you: women, mothers, daughters, fathers, husbands, partners, brothers, friends and all human beings of the 21st century.
In "Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (And Why It's Different Than You Think)" Saujani is re-starting a Movement because we have gotten it all wrong over the past century. Pay Up gives us the much-needed history of women’s roles in the workforce and how they took shape in the 20 and 21st centuries. Women are invaluable to innovation and input that fuels the US economy. Without women, our entire economy is stifled. Saujani shares lots of data around this. There have been many “movements” towards gender equity with brave and relentless leaders, but the plight of working mothers specifically is abysmal in 2022. This is a well-researched call to action to empower working women, educate corporate leaders, revise our narratives about what it means to be successful, and advocate for policy reform.
I joined one movement 14 years ago when I jumped onto the Great Resignation train. “What’s that?” you ask. “The Great Resignation is now,” you say. “These past 2 years, the Great Resignation stems from the pandemic exacerbating the significant gender inequalities and double standards that are causing widespread burnout in women.” Well, I am talking about the OG Great Resignation. The Movement of leaving an untenable situation and the unreasonable expectations from corporate America and of society at large. In my privileged world, I “Leaned” OUT of the corporate rat race by quitting my job to recover from severe burnout from “having it all,” and following my personal values around raising my toddlers and protecting my wellbeing. Having a career, raising a family, striving for the next promotion, ensuring I remained on track for challenging and rewarding work all without support… “Having It All” was just killing me. And I was tough. I was raised as a latch-key kid of a working single mother. I was ready for the Motherload. But as mentioned, it was destroying my wellbeing and made very little financial sense with paid childcare and other necessary supports. This OG Great Resignation was the reason Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, by Nell Scovell and Sheryl Sandberg was written in the first place. Highly educated women were leaving corporate and other professional and service work in droves in the early naughts due to this lack of support from the system, corporate leadership, and the government. Not due to their “will” or lack of a will to lead!
Working-class and single women have always been strained with having to make enormous sacrifices to raise a family and to bring home a paycheck. Situations exacerbated by a lack of extended family and modern isolation, lack of government programs, childcare, and job protection laws, leave working mothers without the proverbial village of support needed. The pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on all women, and it was catastrophic for working mothers.
Saujani’s new book Pay Up highlights how Covid exacerbated the unsustainable plight of working women in America. She sheds light on the hidden inequalities at work and at home and the need for most ambitious women to hide half of their lives from their work leadership in order to get ahead. Pay Up is JUST the book we all need to read right now, to know we are not alone and to create change. Saujani exposes things many people have been getting wrong, or ignoring, and she creates a roadmap for change.
Saujani admits she was an advocate for Lean In and even pitied stay-at-home moms. Her “Aha” moment came after she herself had a child, and then a second child, and had to juggle work and child-rearing during the pandemic. After she started to walk the walk, she realized that the system needs to change, not the working mothers. Thank you, Reshma. That makes a LOT of sense and I am thrilled you point this out. Women are way too damn hard on other women. Other moms are not the problem. Women need to protect and nurture their wellbeing but it is not up to the individual women to change the system. It is up to corporate leadership, government, the system to change the system.
As a political activist fighting for The Marshall Plan for Moms, Saujani describes this as “an investment in women’s recovery and empowerment.” In the book she reveals the “big lie” of corporate feminism and a lack of real progress we seem to have been fighting for for years. Saujani presents an ambitious plan to address the burnout and inequity that impact corporate innovation and success, as well as harm America’s working women. While the government is fighting things out in Washington, Saujani offers a roadmap for change, or ”a bottom-line primer” on what’s needed and what employers and individual women can do to “contribute to the revolution.” This very specific tool for change can be super useful as we all strive to set up a more sustainable working world and to protect an invaluable source of our collective economic and personal wellbeing. I highly recommend you read Pay Up, and send a copy to any working mother you know is struggling and above all, share with anyone with the power to create lasting institutional change.
To each of you who read this to the end, I appreciate your engagement as a key part of this revolution, as I am in my mission-driven work with Monumental Me to help all women and organizations create and better manage their wellbeing at work for sustainable, long term "success." ~ Liana Slater
April 2, 2022
Anyone who is familiar with Reshma Sujani's advocacy work focused on reimagining social supports for women in the workplace will find a longer-form summation of her strategy in this book. There are no surprises here: a quick and dirty explanation of what's wrong with the modern workplace and how working parents, especially mothers, are past burnt out; a brief history of women in the workplace from the mid-20th century to the present; and a call to action for more flexible work environments, schedules, and benefits that would tangibly help employees with children, such as fully paid parental leave, childcare subsidies, and financial remuneration for caregiving work. Saujani's personal anecdotes frame a nod to shifting expectations about the division of household labor and caregiving (a topic better addressed in more detail by Eve Rodsky's "Fair Play," including practical strategies). After the publication of too many business books by women that place the burden of "balance" squarely on the shoulders of women instead of demanding change from dominant workplace cultures - like Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" and Tiffany Dufu's "Drop the Ball"- Saujani's book is a refreshing change.
Although I fully support many of the goals Saujani advocates for (first and foremost paid parental leave), I have to draw attention to how her book sidesteps a crucial aspect of the women's movement that has contributed directly to the immense challenges of working parents today. In chapter 3, where the author walks through the last several decades of gender inequality in the workplace and the changes sparked by modern feminism, she only goes as far to say that women were only able to make so much progress in the workplace by "hiding" their motherhood. Until very recently, most of modern feminism aimed at the professional advancement of women precluded motherhood entirely. It wasn't just that women had to downplay their role as mothers - activists championed the ability to forego or delay motherhood in order to build careers and enable self-determination (i.e., the focus was on helping women to be more like men-without caregiving obligations- to succeed). A large reason our workplace cultures are devoid of meaningful support resources for parents is because they were not part of the original demands of those pushing for greater gender equality. It does Saujani a disservice to understate this, because many current high-profile political allies of the cause for policy changes such as paid parental leave are direct descendants of this era of activism. I wish she would have taken this kind of activism to task for their exclusion of parental needs as much as she demands change from modern employers and governments.
I also wish that the book was a little more beefy, instead of being edited down to an under-200 page volume clearly designed as easily digestible fodder for corporate book clubs. While there is a pressing need to discuss the issues in "Pay Up" in an accessible way in board rooms and break rooms everywhere, I didn't feel that this book offered anything new to me as someone who consistently follows Saujani's advocacy work on social media and elsewhere. It's a good start, I hope, to having more books that examine these issues in more detail in the publishing pipeline and public discourse.
Although I fully support many of the goals Saujani advocates for (first and foremost paid parental leave), I have to draw attention to how her book sidesteps a crucial aspect of the women's movement that has contributed directly to the immense challenges of working parents today. In chapter 3, where the author walks through the last several decades of gender inequality in the workplace and the changes sparked by modern feminism, she only goes as far to say that women were only able to make so much progress in the workplace by "hiding" their motherhood. Until very recently, most of modern feminism aimed at the professional advancement of women precluded motherhood entirely. It wasn't just that women had to downplay their role as mothers - activists championed the ability to forego or delay motherhood in order to build careers and enable self-determination (i.e., the focus was on helping women to be more like men-without caregiving obligations- to succeed). A large reason our workplace cultures are devoid of meaningful support resources for parents is because they were not part of the original demands of those pushing for greater gender equality. It does Saujani a disservice to understate this, because many current high-profile political allies of the cause for policy changes such as paid parental leave are direct descendants of this era of activism. I wish she would have taken this kind of activism to task for their exclusion of parental needs as much as she demands change from modern employers and governments.
I also wish that the book was a little more beefy, instead of being edited down to an under-200 page volume clearly designed as easily digestible fodder for corporate book clubs. While there is a pressing need to discuss the issues in "Pay Up" in an accessible way in board rooms and break rooms everywhere, I didn't feel that this book offered anything new to me as someone who consistently follows Saujani's advocacy work on social media and elsewhere. It's a good start, I hope, to having more books that examine these issues in more detail in the publishing pipeline and public discourse.
March 10, 2023
Agree with the general concepts here but the execution on how we get working moms more equality and mental well being in work and at home went to the outlandish in some areas. Was also very repetitive. Quick read and I skimmed some towards the end, and I did enjoy some of the suggestions on how we can enact change within ourselves, but overall nothing really new outlined or discussed that felt reasonable to me.
June 9, 2025
Agreed with many of the author’s points about why reform is needed and how firms, governments, and society can contribute to that reform. However, as a woman without children, I wasn’t the main audience. The book largely focused on the future of mothers and work, despite being framed as the future of women and work. Additionally, the book lacks discussion on working class or small business reform, as many of the examples come from firms like Google/McKinsey/Citigroup and the like. Overall I think there was a missed opportunity to expand on some of the key themes presented.
July 16, 2022
This book focuses on working mothers and how to accommodate for their situations in the workplace. Although not very relatable, that didn’t prevent me from taking multiple pages of notes.
June 24, 2024
This book had a lot of great key points, but was extremely repetitive.
October 2, 2025
Giving an extra star because, unlike a lot of the other reviews I saw for this book, I am in the target audience for this book as a working mom. I assumed that the 6 weeks of maternity leave I was given in 2020 (5 of which were spent sleeping on the floor of my baby's NICU room while wearing a mask) was adequate since that was the norm and better than just the 2 weeks I saw other moms get. Changing the norms around caregiving (for both children and our parents) is vital to creating a healthy, nurturing society that values our lives outside of office productivity.
I do agree with the other criticisms of this book that the title leads readers to believe that this book is about all women. It should either have a more mom-specific title or be around changing workplace expectations or target both genders for the responsibilities they share in creating the system. It touches upon the issue that for the past generation our mothers told their daughters that we could pursue any career we want; however, our fathers may have failed to inform their sons that they must share in their share of the household responsibilities.
I do agree with the other criticisms of this book that the title leads readers to believe that this book is about all women. It should either have a more mom-specific title or be around changing workplace expectations or target both genders for the responsibilities they share in creating the system. It touches upon the issue that for the past generation our mothers told their daughters that we could pursue any career we want; however, our fathers may have failed to inform their sons that they must share in their share of the household responsibilities.
April 3, 2022
Mandatory reading for everyone regardless of gender and parental status.
April 4, 2023
I read this with a book club at my work and wow! I knew my mom was a superhero, but reading this book really opened my eyes to the disparities for working moms. Everyone (especially men) should read this book!
April 19, 2025
A masterclass in being a feminist woman, and especially mother, in the workplace. This book made me feel seen, and provided some simple ways for companies and individuals alike can create a more equitable world for moms.
April 10, 2022
3.4
An interesting perspective at an opportune time.
An interesting perspective at an opportune time.
April 12, 2025
I was lucky enough to hear Reshma speak at a women’s leadership conference where we were given this book. She makes a lot of interesting points about how “having it all” isn’t necessarily possible and how we need to make systemic changes in order for the workplace to work for women. While I felt like I couldn’t totally relate to everything in the book as I’m not a working mother, there was still a lot that resonated with me.
January 27, 2023
A necessary read for sure. A quick 200 pages, not deep analysis or research, but enough statistics and substance to tell a compelling story that everyone needs to listen to. I appreciate a self help book that’s not about fixing yourself but about fixing the system. Highly recommend.
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