THE BOOK
Feminism: A Key Idea for Business and Society.
Feminist Business is an engine of innovation and care. This is the first book dedicated entirely to feminism and business, and the case for why the two supposed arch-enemies need each other.
160 pp · Published 2020 · Routledge
FEMINISM AND BUSINESS NEED EACH OTHER
I've been saying so for so long that they asked me to write the book on it.
(Seriously, my publisher reached out on Twitter.)
When Routledge commissioned me to write the first book dedicated entirely to feminism and business, they asked me to take a critical, visionary, and practical standpoint, and to cover a lot of ground. The result makes a single, compact argument: business needs feminism to solve its biggest problems at their roots, and feminists need business as an engine of care, innovation, and social transformation.
Because here’s the thing: All business is political, and all business is values-led. The only question is whether you’re deliberate about the values you build in. This book will help you be deliberate about building businesses that are engines of care, innovation, and social transformation, and help you persuade others to be, too.
WHAT'S INSIDE
Accessible and powerful, Feminism: A Key Idea for Business and Society is a must-read for anyone in search of a new paradigm: how business should be understood, how organizations should be managed, and what business should aim to accomplish.
A primer on feminism
With an updated definition and a contemporary description of feminist principles.
Common misconceptions, debunked
That feminism is all about numerical parity, that it’s anti-men or anti-business.
Answers to the awkward questions
Like why decades of effort toward gender equality haven’t worked, and why feminism is so relevant to business but so rarely seen that way.
Critical reframes
On assumptions we never question: what counts as work, whose work counts more, how bodies matter at work, and what leadership actually is.
Directions for change
For shifting business systems from extraction to care.
References for going deeper
A full bibliography of the thinking behind the book.
WHO IT'S FOR
From what most readers tell me, this book could leave you feeling:
Validated that your expectations of business and feminism are realistic, achievable, and genuinely necessary.
More confident when you're pressed on the importance of your values, and the value of feminism to work, to business, and to the economy.
More aware of, and impervious to, the lures of faux-progressive detours like "empowerment" and "compassionate capitalism".
Motivated, opened up to new possibilities for running your business without sacrificing financial sustainability.
Because the book gives you feminism’s critiques and its constructive vision, it doesn’t just strengthen your own convictions, it gives you the language to persuade the skeptics: the boss, the board, the co-founder, and everyone else who needs convincing.
WHAT READERS SAY
FREE EXCERPT
Read the Introduction.
Not sure yet? Drop your email and I’ll send you the book’s introduction, so you can see for yourself why feminism and business belong together.
The future of business is feminist.
By offering both feminism’s critiques and its constructive vision of a future where business helps everyone flourish, the book surprises anyone who assumes feminism is angry, negative, or too complicated. You’ll come away with a clear understanding of why the future of business is feminist.
THE NEWSLETTER
Think differently about business. Every month.
The Feminist Future of Business is my free monthly letter on putting feminism to work in the businesses we build. Reconsider conventional business advice and explore feminist practices, one insight, tool, and framework at a time.