No More Nice Girls (Gender, Power, and Why It's Time to Stop Playing by the Rules)

In the age of girl bosses, Beyoncé, and Black Widow, we like to tell our little girls they can be anything they want when they grow up. Except. You’ll have to work twice as hard. But. Equal pay. Unless. #MeToo. This is the historical paradox of female power — the contradictions and double standards that curb women’s personal, political, and economic power, even as feminists consistently trailblaze and break down barriers.

Award-winning journalist and author Lauren McKeon shows us why we need more than parity, visible diversity, and lone female CEOs to change this power game that women and other marginalized genders were never meant to win. She examines the varied ways in which our institutions are designed to keep women from all levels of power while uncovering new models of power — ones the patriarchy doesn’t get to define. She talks to women doing power differently, including lawyers insisting on gender-neutral change rooms in courthouses, programmers creating apps to track the breakdown of men and women being quoted in news media, mixed martial artists teaching girls self-empowerment, and entrepreneurs prioritizing trauma-informed office cultures. And as the toxic, divisive, and hyper-masculine style of leadership gains ground, threatening democracy here and abroad, McKeon underscores why we must all stop playing by the rules of a rigged game.

Ultimately hopeful and optimistic, No More Nice Girls charts a path forward for how to disrupt the standard (very male) vision of power, ditch convention, and build a more equitable world for everyone.