A Good Time to be a Girl by Helena Morrissey is about gender and equality in society and in the workplace.

This is probably one of the most important non-fiction reads I can recommend to any people, particularly women, in any kind of business environment. In this book, Helena Morrissey talks about how this is the time for diversity and inclusivity in the workplace.

I really loved the points Helena made in this book about a woman not having to give up her femininity to be a leader in business, and how she doesn’t have to adopt male traits if they aren’t natural to her to succeed in business. How the typical man’s world of business and success is something that needs to be eradicated and we need to create a new model of being on top that includes both male, and female characteristics.

I also thought Helena made a wonderful point when she wrote about talking to everyone about diversity and an inclusive workspace, not just people already interested in it. She’s right in saying that the group of ‘white, straight males’ should have seats in the diversity seminar because they’re the ones that most need to learn and have their eyes open, and pass it on.

I will definitely be buying myself a physical copy of this book because it’s one I will want to reread, and probably highlight, dog-ear, the lot. It’s also one I’ll definitely be buying my friends so they can read, as I think they will love it.

Written by the founder of the 30% club advocating for 30% women to reach board level by 2020, it couldn’t go wrong!

This is an amazing book which addresses the issues of women’s careers whilst incorporating family, friends, children and more. By explaining how she overcame these challenges both at home and work, it creates a really personal touch and you can understand just how she had the motivation to become a CEO.

I believe that this book is reflective of how some of her key thoughts have been effective in raising awareness of the gender inequality and diversity, as well as becoming a basis for change in the future.

I would recommend this to women who need some inspiration or guidance into the world of work whilst raising a family.

Lucy

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

My undergraduate degree was in business (don’t ask – I really should have done English) and so I’ve retained a somewhat passing interest in the world of employment and in particular my specialist areas of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. This field also ties in nicely with my feminist ideals and broader perspective that we should just employ people based on what they’re good at, not what we think they’re good at because of some lazy ass stereotypes (I probably need to put that into more polite wording of I’m going to use it in a job interview). So when I saw A Good Time to be a Girl I thought “huzzah! This will be a delightful crossover of lots of things that I’m interested in, written by a woman who has actually done some stuff and is educated enough to make a decent, interesting book out of her ‘journey’!”

Except…she doesn’t. A Good Time to be a Girl is just dull. It’s the story of the author’s corporate career and her creation of the 30% Club, a concept designed to make big business boards of directors 30% female. Whilst I applaud her efforts and I like the idea of a more gender balanced workforce (especially in the top tier) I don’t be necessarily want to read an entire novel about how she did it. There’s a lot of name dropping (I spoke to Sir Stanley so and so, who put me in touch with Lord thingybob) – all people that I’d never heard of – and the whole thing simply drips with privilege (I guarantee that all of these people are white, upper class privately educated men allowing a few white, upper class privately educated women in). No mention of ethnic minorities or people of colour, LGBTQ+ people, people from different socio-economic backgrounds, disabled people etc. etc…so in my eyes not really diversity, despite the fact that many of the initiatives for recruiting women into senior positions could equally apply to other under represented groups. Grrrr.

The main thing that annoyed me about the idea of a 30% Club was a) it’s a quota and b) if you are going for quantitative measures, why not 50%? 30% feels like a grovelling acceptance that businesses obviously can’t be expected to achieve equal representation but letting in just a couple of us…pretty please…means diversity has been reached. High fives all round! No more work to be done here!

What I really struggled to equate was the idea that a quantitative measure (30%) could be linked to the idea of a “better team” or “better working environment” – something that’s far more likely to be measured with qualitative research (questionnaires, interviews etc.). If you wanted to link the idea that teams that are gender balanced perform better based on performance outputs (sales figures, profits etc.) then there will be a huge number of variables affecting the validity of your research. I’m not saying that I don’t believe in the concept of diversity but I am saying that measuring it’s impact on the bottom line is very difficult – possibly the reason that Helena Morissey negated to do any follow up research into the outcomes of her project and instead focused on how many people signed up to it. Hmmmm.

I think it’s the author’s overall idea that women and men are two discreet, homologous groups who behave as “men” and “women” which I found most ridiculous. When we talk about wanting gender balance or diversity, what most companies want is to exploit the idea that having a group of individuals who will all challenge the status quo and bring new ideas and perspectives will be good for business performance. However, I don’t think that’s as simple as hiring a few token women to hit a target. Having a corporate culture that encourages debate, actively looks for diversification opportunities and pushes to attract the best talent is the only way that a truly diverse workforce will thrive. We need to remember that a culture that rewards yes men can equally reward yes women.

Morissey also fails to investigate the impact of the 30% Club on the very people that it’s meant to be helping – the women. I’m absolutely certain that an initiative which is so blunt in it’s aims would attract a lot of negativity. I’m sure that for many of the women promoted, there would be gossip that “she only got the job because she’s female” and that this would massively undermine both confidence of the women in their abilities and the confidence of the men in their employer. You hear none of the issues being discussed though – A Good Time to be a Girl has almost no negativity in it whatsoever. I think it was this focus solely on the positives that meant I really didn’t connect with the book – there was literally no emotion in it.

On the plus side, I liked the (somewhat tenuous, but whatever) link between diverse teams equals better business performance and if this had been backed up with proper research it would have been even more useful. I think that in order to “sell” the concept of diversity we need to focus on this concept far more, not some airy fairy idea that having more women in senior positions is somehow “the right thing to do”. I know I’d be far more inclined to listen if someone told me that they could increase our profits by 5% next year, rather than “I think we need more women…”.

I also liked the inclusion of the authors personal story (although written in a very impersonal manner) and thought that she would have some real insights into how to achieve a senior position whilst also having a family (she has nine kids). Unfortunately, instead of being a trailblazer for flexible working, she simply had a stay at home husband – something that the vast majority of families simply can’t afford to do – so no real insights there. I’m not even sure why she includes the fact that she was a working mum? It seemed a bit out of context.

Overall, I thought that A Good Time to be a Girl absolutely had a place as a business manual, but not as an exciting or engaging read. I liked the idea that diversity = success but needed far more evidence to back these claims up. I didn’t like the idea of a quota of women (particularly as the target was only 30%) and felt like many businesses would simply hire a few women to meet the target. I hated the way Morissey insinuated that diversity meant more women and didn’t look at all at any other under-represented groups and I didn’t like her impersonal style of writing. There are a few gems of wisdom scattered through the book but even as a feminist reader I have my limits.

Source Netgalley

Looking over thirty-five years in business, Morrison informs the reader that she has seen a great deal of progress. More and more, women are achieving success in the business and civic arenas. She argues, however, that women still have a long way to go in their quest for equality. There are still too few women taking their seat either around the boardroom table or in the political chamber.

Moreover, she argues that women still face a dilemma when entering public life, a dilemma that pits her public life as a worker against her private life of wife and mother. She argues that many campaigns around gender equality are based on a belief that women, who wish to succeed in the public arena, should ape the lives of their male ycounterparts, disengaging themselves from the responsibilities of the private arena and devoting themselves entirely to the public, civic, sphere. This means that women may be either: excluded from high positions in public life, left feeling lonely without the comforts that a private life may bring, or exhausted by the need to juggle two full-time roles.

In addition, she argues, equality campaigns are often seen as women’s responsibility, a side issue that can be left on the margins a business discourse, one that men, who still hold most of the levers of power, can ignore. Therefore, issues of equality and the goals of achieving gender parity are often left at the bottom of organisations to be done list. Therefore the problem remains unresolved.

Moreover, she argues that we are travelling through turbulent times. Times that see: a Trump presidency, Brexit, the rise of neo-nazism, the backlash against women’s rights, and a growth in hate crimes.

However, far from being a negative time, this could be a time of opportunity. People are beginning to fight for what they are losing. In doing so, they are beginning to rethink the very nature of politics and business, asking; why are women left with the caring responsibilities, why can’t public and private responsibilities be shared so that men and women can play a role in both arenas, why are equality issues always marginalised and left in the hands of women?

This book looks at measures that Morrison has put in place, both in her private and public life, to begin to challenge the inequalities to be found within the business world. She argues that the key is including men, both in the fight to bring women into the public arena and the private world that women leave behind.

These are not new ideas. Feminists have been advocating for this for a long time. But, it is good to see them articulated, so clearly, by a woman who lives these dilemmas every day and is actively fighting for gender parity. It is a must read.

2017 was the year that women spoke up and fought back. This book is inspirational, sends a positive message and a must read for all sexes.

Very well written and timely book. For a non fiction book it was quite a page turner.