Extract from Why Men Win At Work by Gill Whitty-Collins

preface
we have in the world today? No – it’s not even the biggest
problem women have, and it won’t be as long as some women
are being physically or sexually abused anywhere in the world.
When one in three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime 1
and women around the world are subjected to forced marriage,
stoning, trafficking, female genital mutilation, acid attacks,
‘honour’ killings, slavery and servitude, gender inequality at
work is a ‘first world feminist problem’ by comparison. These
are much more important issues than the ‘luxury gender issues’
I will focus on, and these must be fought by every decent
human being wherever they exist.
This book isn’t about the hideous sexism or obvious sexism
that everyone can see, which has been well covered by others.
It is not about the awful things that the very small minority
of men who are predators or misogynists consciously do to
control and manipulate women. It is about the invisible and
unwitting things that men do that may not come from bad
intentions but that do have significant negative consequences.
This book focuses on what happens when women have been
lucky enough to avoid or survive physical or sexual abuse and
have ploughed through all the crap – the sexual harassment
in the street, at school, at college – and have strived to stop
it undermining them and holding them back. It’s about what
happens when these women make it to work, in a good job,
which they do very well. They work alongside men – men who,
by and large, are decent, behave well, say the right things
and wouldn’t dream of making an overtly sexist comment,
let alone do anything physically inappropriate. It’s about all
of the invisible, unconscious things they experience that will
ultimately be what defeats most of these strong, intelligent,
talented women.
Finally, for the record, I am a feminist, but this does not
mean that I want women to rule the world. I do not believe
that women are better or smarter than men. I simply believe
that we are equal and that we should rule and run the world
(and its businesses and organisations) together. But we are a
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