AWAKENING

LADIES, LEADERSHIP, AND THE LIES WE'VE BEEN TOLD

by Areva Martin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 21, 2021

Advice for thriving as a woman in the workplace.

In this self-help book, Martin, whose last book was Make It Rain (2018), encourages women to learn about systemic sexism and to push back against gendered challenges in the workplace and in general. Martin, a lawyer, journalist, and entrepreneur, shares her own and friends’ and colleagues’ professional experiences to illustrate the problems women face in professional settings. The book’s first section addresses misconceptions about women’s potential for success, which Martin presents as the lies women have been told (“You Can’t Be a Working Woman and Raise a Family”). The middle chapters explore some of the underlying reasons women contend with setbacks in their careers, from assumptions about how parenthood will influence professionalism to unequal opportunities for mentorship and support, and the final section provides solutions and strategies for getting past obstacles, although it does not get into specifics about how to bring about major systemic changes. Each chapter ends with an “awakening action item,” which gives readers journaling prompts, potential discussion topics, and recommended activities. The system as a whole, Martin argues, is at fault when it comes to institutionalized prejudice and discrimination, and while minor fixes do have limited impacts, a wholesale rethinking of relationships, work, and professionalism is needed.

Martin’s personal narrative, which is about her struggles and successes (“A Black woman with Harvard credentials is still a Black woman,” she notes), is at the book’s core. The author is a strong writer and storyteller, and she does an excellent job of capturing the essences of the women she features here. She also provides a wealth of pithy pull quotes (“You can’t open a door simply by ‘leaning in’ to it”) that will prompt highlighting and underlining. At times, however, the book seems unwilling to trust its readers’ knowledge base (for instance, by suggesting that TV shows like Veep and Madam Secretary are the first places many saw women represented in positions of political power, as though their fictional protagonists are the only women visible in positions of power) and misses opportunities for more substantial analysis. Recommendations for achieving structural change range from individual action items, like developing a personal mission statement and setting achievable goals, to more conceptual activities, like identifying and challenging internalized stereotypes. Although the book calls for large-scale systemic changes, it includes little in the way of specific advice for how to “dismantle and rebuild the system,” making it more a tool for consciousness raising and relationship building than wholesale revolution. Readers will find motivation and validation via both anecdotes and statistics. But those who have already read The Memo (2019), Lead From Outside (2018), or Did That Just Happen?! (2021) may find that the book covers familiar territory. Martin’s greatest strength, however, is in her presentation, and even jaded readers are likely to put the book down feeling that their perceptions of sexism are accurate, the problem is indeed a fixable one, and Martin is in their corner, cheering them on as they try to transform the world.

A passionate, statistics-based argument for women’s equality in the workplace.

Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-63735-013-3

Page Count: 200

Publisher: Leaders Press

Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2021

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

BUSINESS | SELF-HELP | LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT & COMMUNICATION | MOTIVATIONAL & PERSONAL SUCCESS | GENERAL BUSINESS