Quotes from Barbara Kellerman

If women are choosing not to run the world, it's partly because men are choosing not to run the washer and dryer.

In short, women who do not opt out of demanding professional positions are more likely to opt out of demanding family obligations.

Most characteristics associated with leaders are masculine: dominance, authority, assertiveness, and so forth.

What is assertive in a man can appear abrasive in a woman, and female leaders risk appearing too feminine or not feminine enough.

Aspiring female leaders risk being liked but not respected, or respected but not liked, in settings that may require individuals to be both in order to succeed.

Double standards in domestic roles are deeply rooted in cultural attitudes and workplace practices. Working mothers are held to higher standards than working fathers and are often criticized for being insufficiently committed, either as parents or professionals. Those who seem willing to sacrifice family needs to workplace demands appear lacking as mothers. Those who take extended leave or reduced schedules appear lacking as leaders.

has the American presidency become the most impossible job in the world?

Going outside the system seems sometimes the only way to get anything done—even by those within the system.

In government we have leaders who are perceived by and large as unable to do what they are supposed to do, to lead. In business we have leaders who are perceived by and large as able to do what they are supposed to do, to lead, but who nevertheless do so in ways that disappoint and dishearten.

What is assertive in a man can appear abrasive in a woman, and female leaders risk appearing too feminine or not feminine enough.