The XX Factor

The gender gap is closing. Today, for the first time in history, tens of millions of women are spending more time at the boardroom table than the kitchen table. These professional women are highly ambitious and highly educated, enjoying the same lifestyle prerogatives as their male counterparts. They are working longer and marrying later—if they marry at all. They are heading Fortune 500 companies and appearing on the covers of Forbes and Businessweek. They represent a special type of working woman—the kind who doesn’t just punch a clock for a paycheck, but derives self-worth and pleasure from wielding professional power.

At the same time that the gender gap is narrowing, the gulf is widening among women themselves. While blockbuster books such as Lean In focus only on women in high pressure jobs, in reality, for every Sheryl Sandberg there are four women in traditionally female roles. In this revealing and deeply intelligent book, Alison Wolf examines why more educated women work longer hours, why having children early is a good idea, and how feminism created a less equal world. Her ideas are sure to provoke and surprise, as she challenges much of what the liberal and conservative media consider to be women’s best interests.

Alison Wolf is a non-affiliated (cross bench) peer in the United Kingdom House of Lords, and Sir Roy Griffiths professor of public sector management at King’s College London. She writes widely for the press on education and social policy, presents for BBC radio, and has undertaken policy reviews for the British government.

Chrystia Freeland MP is Canada’s Minister of International Trade and a member of Cabinet. Before entering politics, she was a bestselling and prize-winning journalist and author (Plutocrats, Sale of the Century), deputy editor of the Financial Times, and a senior executive with Thomson Reuters.