The XX Factor: How the Rise of Working Women Has Created a Far Less Equal World

The gender gap is closing. Today, for the first time in history, tens of millions of women are spending more time at the boardroom table than at the kitchen table. These professional women are highly ambitious and highly educated, enjoying the same lifestyle prerogatives as their male counterparts. They are working longer and marrying later—if they marry at all. They are heading Fortune 500 companies and appearing on the covers of Forbes and Businessweek. They represent a special kind of working woman—one who derives self-worth and pleasure from wielding professional power.

At the same time the gender gap is narrowing, the gulf is widening among women themselves. While blockbuster books such as Lean In focus on women in high-pressure jobs, in reality there are four women in traditionally female roles for every Sheryl Sandberg. In this revealing and deeply intelligent book, Alison Wolf examines why more educated women work longer hours, why having children early is a good idea, and how feminism has created a less equal world. Her ideas are sure to provoke and surprise as she challenges much of what the liberal and conservative media consider to be women’s best interests.