Broad Influence

November 1, 2015
How women effect change once they reach a critical mass.As a political correspondent for TIME, journalist Newton-Small investigated the response of women senators to the government shutdown in 2013. Her article about their bipartisan efforts to foster negotiations led her to a broader investigation into women's influence in government, the judiciary, business, police forces, and the military. Interviews with more than 200 women inform her thoughtful, often inspiring debut book. The author argues that once women's participation reaches at least 20 percent of a group, they can "change the culture and influence outcomes." She found this "critical mass" in Congress, now 20 percent female; the current presidential administration (30 percent), and federal judgeships (35 percent)--but not in the private sector. On corporate boards, "women who served alone were often ignored...and their views discounted" until they numbered three or more. Many of her subjects are prominent, outspoken, and recognizable: Nancy Pelosi, for example, who "played politics on a man's field and played it better than any of them," and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. But Newton-Small also explores the contributions of Tulsi Gabbard, who served in Iraq, was elected to Congress from Hawaii, and educated her male peers about women's military experiences; Erie Meyer, who left the "frat-boy culture" of a tech firm to work in the Ohio Attorney General's office; and Elizabeth Bondurant, a New Jersey police chief who believes that women are more likely than men to defuse a hostile situation through talking. From these conversations, the author concludes that women bring particular skills and perspectives to any culture, including facility with communication and propensity to listen, compromise, and form alliances. She also finds "a good deal of evidence that women are inherently risk-averse," making it less likely that the scandal incited by Lehman Brothers would have occurred at Lehman Sisters. A cogent argument for gender parity and a revealing look at cultural change.

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January 1, 2016

Newton-Small (Washington correspondent, Time Magazine) argues that in most milieus women have reached the "critical mass" of 20 to 30 percent needed to be heard and to advance women's welfare and opportunities. She bases this view upon more than 200 interviews with women in Congress, private business, the military, and other environments. The author contends that women have innate qualities, such as the preference for consensus, that make their leadership style different from that of men, but in many ways more effective. Women still face obstacles of invisibility, harassment, and disdain, to name but a few. Moreover, aware of their still-shaky status, women still exhibit deferential behavior: they hesitate to speak up at meetings or to take credit for their ideas and they worry over their appearance. The author notes with surprise that the government offers more parity than private employers (it was always so), and she invests her hope in the millennial generation to eliminate the barriers that remain. VERDICT This book will appeal to a general audience.--Cynthia Harrison, George Washington Univ., Washington, DC

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