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

by Alison Wolf

Chrystia Freeland (Foreword)

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Book cover for The XX Factor

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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 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 type of working woman—the kind who doesn’t just punch a clock for a paycheck, but derives self-worth and pleasure from wielding professional power.


At the same time that the gender gap is narrowing, the gulf is widening among women themselves. While blockbuster books such as Lean In focus only on women in high pressure jobs, in reality, for every Sheryl Sandberg there are four women in traditionally female roles. 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 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.
  • ISBN10 1510718389
  • ISBN13 9781510718388
  • Publish Date 27 April 2017 (first published 1 January 2013)
  • Publish Status Active
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Skyhorse Publishing
  • Format Paperback (US Trade)
  • Pages 420
  • Language English