A Good Time to Be a Girl

Author: Helena Morrissey
​Pages: 264
Overall: 5/5
Takeaways: 4/5
Cheers Factor: ⅘
Pairing: Infinite Monkey Theorem canned White Wine because sometimes you can be classy while also being hip and balling on a budget. Also I love this winery. It’s based in Colorado and I remember my parents first discovering it and really loving it. We have many bottles around my home, be them flattened or having Christmas lights in them and they decorate our bars and mantles. I definitely recommend trying to find small wineries to support in 2020.

    Before reading this novel I had not heard of Helena Morissey. However, after reading this novel I am so incredibly glad that I have and did. Morissey was a high powered CEO at Newton Investment Management for a number of years while also raising her nine children. Yes you read that correctly, she was a badass CEO and a momma bear to nine children. 
    I had no idea that she was in the finance and financial management world before reading this I merely knew she was British and had experience in male dominated fields. However, hearing from someone in an industry I hope to be in during my future career has been quite enlightening. In this book Morrissey covers a wide variety of topics and I felt quite excited to read about them. 

   There were many great anecdotes that I wish I could talk about, but I don’t want to spoil too many so that you can read it for yourself. However, I do want to share a few parts that I felt perfectly resonated with me. Morrissey wrote about how women are always being bombarded with advice from male and female colleagues about how to network, how to be more assertive even how to dress. This part reminded me of a speaker series I attended this past summer during my internship with Goldman Sachs. Sheara Fredman, the Chief Accounting Officer (CAO) for the company, shared a story about a bright pink Valentino dress that she wore when presenting to the board. She remembers stepping into the elevator with a male colleague who commented on her choice of dress and how it was bright. The subtext likely implied that it was a bright, bold and obviously feminine choice. She simply explained to him that the board had been sitting in meetings quite honestly the entire day and in order to stand out she wanted to do something different. The colleague took a step back and replied that they had never thought of that. She simply explained that as a woman it was something she thought about. In fact it was something she thought about often. I myself have done this and I find it interesting that it never goes away. 
    Secondly when talking about the 30% Club she wrote about how some men were more willing to speak up than others in favor of putting their support behind the club. One man in particular happened to have a strong willed daughter that he wanted to make sure had a future that was ready to let her succeed without barriers. Morrissey wrote that “often men with daughters are particularly committed to wanting change for women”. This is a very accurate sentiment that even I have seen with my friends' fathers and their push for them to go out and do great things while helping pave the way for them. I know my dad does it for me everyday. 
    The last big takeaway I want to share is that although we still have a long way to go Morrissey wants to make it very clear that we have made it a long way. There are great things to be celebrated. Just a few months ago CitiBank named their first ever female CEO Jane Fraser. These momentous occasions should be celebrated and we should take time to celebrate them. Morrissey wrote something that I want to share and it is that “women are not victims unless we choose to be seen as such”. I agree with this sentence so wholeheartedly. Women are not victims and I refuse to see us as such. We are all powerful and making strides and will continue to do so. 
    This was truly a delight to read. It was compassionate in its delivery and I really appreciated the perspectives that Morrissey gave. She spent her peak career years running a business, raising a family and getting the 30% Club the support it needed. She is a fantastic example of a woman who knew what she wanted and went for it. I finished her book and felt inspired and I know you will too. If you’re interested take a look at the 30% Club’s website linked here https://30percentclub.org/. 

“Leaning in to a corrupt system may have seemed the ‘only’ option - now, together, we can challenge and transform the system”