Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg’s best-selling 2013 book Lean In sparked hundreds of conversations and debates about gender in the workplace. But four years later, Sandberg doesn’t think women are any better off.
In an interview with USA Today, Sandberg noted that less than 6% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, and only 11 countries are run by women in 2017 — compared to 19 countries in 2011. “Overall, we are not seeing a major increase in female leadership in any industry or in any government in the world, and I think that’s a shame,” she said.
Looking forward, the Facebook executive said that four years from now she hopes women “will run half of our companies and countries, and men run half our homes,” though she acknowledged that may not be “a likely time period.” But Sandberg is still optimistic. “I think we too often suffer from the tyranny of low expectations,” she said.
Sandberg, who supported Hillary Clinton in last year’s election, added that she was disappointed her children couldn’t see a woman sworn in as president, though she “fully expects” they will at some point in their lives.