KIRKUS REVIEW
A global expert on organizational diversity and inclusion explains how to create an equitable workplace.
King is head of the U.N. Women’s Global Innovation Coalition for Change and an advisory board member for Girl Up, a campaign by the United Nations Foundation that helps fund and support programs that focus on adolescent girls. She is also a keynote speaker, researcher, and writer as well as the host of a weekly podcast, The Fix, in which she shares ways men and women “can advance equality at work.” In her debut book, King challenges the notion of the ideal worker and condemns the success prototype common in traditional workplace environments. While the author acknowledges that strides have been made, she contends that organizations, often unknowingly, “operate in a way that marginalizes, excludes, or devalues women.” She also contends that many organizations do not value differences and that their “diversity and inclusion efforts” are often “aimed at fixing women” rather than creating a workplace that truly supports men and women equally. Backed by extensive research data and interviews with company and thought leaders, the book is divided into three primary sections. In Part I, King explores the history of the workplace and the challenges faced by both women and men in this conventional environment. In Part II, she identifies three career phases common for women and the “invisible barriers” that women typically face at each stage. In Part III, the author provides a call to action for employees and leaders to begin discussing these hidden barriers and implementing changes that create environments and cultures that support everyone in an organization. Throughout the book, King also calls out problems and identifies specific ways employees and leaders can begin fixing them. Although the text is particularly geared toward issues faced by women, the author rightly asserts that equality in the workplace will benefit everyone.
A common-sense guidebook for creating a workplace that values men and women equally.
