Beginning Chapters: Wilson

The introduction and first few chapters of the Wilson book really began to open my eyes about how easy it is to ignore problems and barriers for women in the world today. I have almost never thought as myself as anything but equal to my male peers and the first few chapters made me take a step back and really think about all of the possible obstacles that I might have to face someday, and indeed already face in my life today.
The first chapter which broke down a lot of information about women in leadership positions into statistical data was particularly surprising. While I tended to think that there are a lot of really powerful women in the world and that the government has plenty of women, I was thoroughly impressed and appalled to learn that it will take nearly 50 years for there to be an equal number of women as men in the senate if we keep going at the current rate. To me, this is bordering on ridiculous. Women make up more than half of the population in the world, so why should there be any reason that they do not have say in and create at a minimum, half of the rules. This information in a way renewed my recently lackluster passion for the world of politics. Recently I have been very uncertain as to if I actually want to go into politics or if that wasn't just a childhood fantasy. The first chapter of this book made me want to do it again, if for no other reason than to prove that I can.
The second chapter goes on to reveal important barriers to women in the workplace. This is equally as surprising information, to realize that only 8 women are CEO's of all 500 companies in the Fortune 500. Not many people sit back and realize that in reality there are certainly barriers to women in leadership roles that aren't always obvious. Some of these include that they often have to put the interests of their families before their own, that they are less likely to incite conflict, and that they are less aggressive than their male counterparts. Personally, I am not a shy woman so it sometimes slips my mind that a lot of my own personality traits may be more "male." To me thats just "me." Taking a step back and being reminded that being aggressive and forward is not always typical behavior from a woman was a good thing for me.