Sex & Power

By Susan Estrich

Book Overview

Updated with a new introduction by the author.

At the dawn of the 21st century, women in America are richer, more educated, and more powerful than before. So why is it, Estrich asks, that they account for a minuscule percentage of the nation's top executives, politicians, lawyers and professors? A searing report (Rocky Mountain News), filled with personal stories and startling statistics, Sex & Power dares to tell the truth about men and women, and how power is divided between them.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573228931
• ISBN13: 9781573228930
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Riverhead Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Feminism at the highest level

This is a splendid book and Susan Estrich is a very sophisticated person, the kind of person who judges each case on its individual merits. Thus she could be for Anita Hill and against Monica Lewinsky. She is also the kind of person who is exquisitely sensitive to political power and its exercise, a person who knows both the importance and the limitations of political correctness. Thus she can defend Bill Clinton and find fault with Al Gore. She is also a terrific writer who can be vivid, candid, self-expressive and revealing, and very sharp with what she finds unacceptable. Thus she can lecture women on the necessity to speak up when they feel harassed or overlooked for promotion while recognizing that the "nuts and sluts defense" to rape (her coinage) sometimes has validity. She is not the kind of person you can pigeon hole. Thus she can write a book about Sex and Power that really is about sex and power, with herself as participant from her experience at the Harvard Law School and within the Democratic party at the highest level, a friend of both Hillary and Bill Clinton, to being a victim of an ice pick rapist. She can brag about her legs (p. 207) and admit that she calls her interns "sweetie," touches them and has them run for coffee (p. 191) while making the most cogent arguments about the reality of sexual harassment in the workplace and how it harms both women and men. She can be as political as the wiliest pol as she references a goody portion of the pantheon of feminist writers from Christina Hoff Sommers to Catharine A. MacKinnon, usually without letting us know where she might agree or disagree with them.She begins with the observation that despite great strides made by women toward complete equality in our society there is still a tremendous disparity in the number of men and women in the top positions in corporate America, in the law, and in academia. Estrich makes this clear beyond any shadow of a doubt as she cites the numbers. The question is why. The implication is that sex discrimination is still rampant at the top and the old boy's network and conspiracy just as intrenched as ever. However, a more careful interpretation of the very statistics and observations that Estrich uses suggests that it is not sex discrimination alone that accounts for the lack of women at the top of Fortune 500 companies, but something else.Call it smarts; not the lack of intelligence, but the possession of it.The plain fact of the matter is that women have wisely chosen to put themselves and their families first, the pursuit of power and superfluous wealth a distant second. Estrich has not. That is her choice, and she wears it well, but it is not for everyone, or even for more than some of us.Estrich understands this. She has managed a splendid career, but she hasn't given up motherhood to do it. She has a family, a son and a daughter. She argues that women have to be extraordinary to receive the same pay and rise to the same level as

Updated View of the Feminist Vision of the 1960s

Professor Estrich has written a very fine book here that everyone will benefit from reading. She starts with the original feminist concept of eliminating legal barriers to women's progress in order open up the better jobs in the workplace, and describes what the legal scene is now. Then, she describes that the economic and political status of women has been little changed a result. She makes some excellent recommendations for what is needed now.When I went school in the 1960s, there were relatively few women in my classes. In college, the percentage was about 30 percent. In law school, it was about 10 percent. In business school, it was about 3 percent. One could easily see why there were not as many women in top positions in society then, if appropriate education was so limited. Since then, I have attended many reunions where women have spoken about career progress. About 20 years ago, I noticed something troubling. Successful women described themselves as never mentoring other women in the workplace and never seeking out women suppliers. In fact, most of these women indicated that it had never occurred to them to play these roles. How will the lessons of getting ahead ever be passed down to the newly-educated women? Then ten years ago, women at reunions started talking about dropping off of the fast career track for more time with their children. Ms. Estrich has done everyone a favor by taking these observations and addressing what more is needed to open up leadership roles. I was particularly impressed with her examples of how two or three women working together can make a big difference. In my over 30 years in the business world, I cannot remember a single instance of seeing women do this. On the other hand, I have often seen men successfully take on women's advocacy in the workplace beginning in the 1970s. I have also seen various male minorities effectively employ such advocacy. Her observations suggest that the fundamental rules of the workplace need to change to reflect women's role in child-bearing and child-rearing. Few would disagree. On the other, I think she misses some places where the progress is occurring and could be accelerated. In family businesses, there is always going to be the potential for a lot more flexibility. I see wife-and-husband and father-and-daughter enterprises easily accommodating this adjustment.Professor Estrich also misses the more rapid progress of women in financial jobs than in other business roles. While controller, treasurer and CFO jobs usually don't lead immediately to becoming a CEO, most CFOs can get an operating job if they want one. And about one in 15 CFOs do become CEOs later in their careers. I suspect that this is going to be an important source of women CEOs in the future. Product management and sales are two other areas that should have a high yield of future career progress for women. Companies where women are the primary customers should be particularly good places

Teach a girl to go for her dreams

This is a riveting book. I read it in two sittings. I am living some of what she describes and it was chilling to read that part. I have become complacent about the greater good. But I am teaching my daughter to love math, embrace technology and to be whatever she wants to be. Get this book now. Tell others about it too.

Fascinating and frightening...

In Sex & Power, Susan Estrich explores the status of women in the workforce today, 'after' the feminist revolution, 'after' the playing field has been changed by all the hard-fought, hard-won gains women have achieved. And what she finds is that not much is different from what it was before. Yes, there are now a total of three women heading Fortune 500 companies; that's sure a gigantic leap from 20 years ago, when there were two. Estrich is hardly breaking new ground in revealing how women are still struggling for equal pay, promotions and fairness, among many, many other things, but her questions about and insights into these circumstances are fascinating, perceptive, sharp and brutally honest.There are, according to Estrich, many reasons for the current state of affairs - complicated, multi-layered, systemic, social, surprising, frustrating, infuriating, understandable... Estrich's full grasp of the extent of the problems and her contact with women from all levels and walks of life enables her to view the probable causes from a variety of perspectives and to present a compelling argument in favor of her theories. I think that providing too much information about them would undermine the efficacy and interest of the book - no spoilers here - but she does provide support, both from her personal experiences and those of others, that explains many of the issues she addresses.I highly recommend this book for anyone at all concerned with the status of women at the end of the 20th century, anyone who wants to see if 'we've come a long way, baby.' And it's refreshing that Estrich spares no one - including women - as she attempts to find the causes at the root of the apparent stagnation in women's progress. There is a certain amount of repetition for such a short book, and at times the chapters seem to blend into each other, but this does not, in any way, detract from the power of this important book. However frightening it is to learn about these things, it is crucial that women - and men - shed any sense of complacency if we are ever to achieve true equality. This book certainly doesn't hold all the answers or questions or even get much below the tip of the iceberg. But it is engrossing and, although it's enraging at the same time, Sex & Power is not a book to be missed.

A classic

This is one terrific book. It should be required reading for all women in America who complain about their status in society. I had expected to find the usual complaints, the whining and moaning that so often accompanies the fact that women have yet to achieve gender equality. There are of course at least four thousand years of gender inequality for women to justifiably complain about. However, it is action that creates change, not whining and moaning. If you are a woman in contemporary America and you want to better yourself, a feminist you should be. Susan Estrich, it proclaims on the cover of the book, believes that, "until women reach the seats of power - where the rules are made - the deck will continue to be stacked against them." In my book, Domestic Violence: Facts and Fallacies I write, "Authentic and certifiable progress in domestic violence will occur only when the majority of our public policymakers are women." The fact is, we are each right. Women are no longer victims of a patriarchy that can keep them out of the political area. I agree with Estrich that many men continue to want to keep women out of the political arena, however, those men can only make it difficult, they can not deny women their rightful place in society. Men often used muscles, guns, and unjust laws to achieve and hold on to power. Now power is found in the ballot box and women have just as much right and ability to achieve political power as men. To be a victim you must be denied the ability to change the circumstance that creates your plight. Women now have that ability to create change and Estrich rightly concludes that too many women have yet to decide that they really want change. Estrich believes that society is not fair, is not just, and still does not provide a level playing field for women and men. And of course she is right. Most important she rightly concludes society is not going to change until women decide they want to make that change. Most people with wealth and power don't just give it up or give it away regardless of gender. It was a woman not a man that said, "Let them eat cake." First the suffragettes and then the women of Estrichs' generation provided the tools. It is now up to women to decide if they want to use those tools or not. Estrich writes, and I agree, that too many women have decided that the task at hand is too hard. Too many women continue to settle for less. When I was a young man a husband could rape his wife any time he wanted to. Women did not sit on juries nor attend the same colleges. Women were in many instances second class citizens. If you don't think that women could be reduced to the role once again, you don't know much about history. Estrich correctly concludes that women have achieved legal equality, but what they really need is change. Again she is correct. A complete equality of gender is an illusory goal that can not be precisely achieved. Women's basketball teams will not beat men's basketball