A historic number of women left their jobs in 2021, resulting in their lowest workforce participation since 1988. Author and activist Reshma Saujani confronts the “big lie” of corporate feminism in her book Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (And Why It’s Different Than You Think), and she presents a bold plan to address the systemic biases impacting working women. On this episode of the Gartner Talent Angle, Reshma explains how the cost of inaction ⁠— for families, the economy, and women themselves ⁠— is too great to ignore. To fuel this urgency, she shares strategies to create lasting change.

Reshma Saujani is a leading activist and the founder of Girls Who Code and the Marshall Plan for Moms. She is the author of Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (And Why It’s Different Than You Think). Reshma has spent more than a decade building movements to fight for women and girls’ economic empowerment, working to close the gender gap in the tech sector, and most recently advocating for policies to support moms impacted by the pandemic. Reshma is also the author of the international bestseller Brave, Not Perfect, and her influential TED talk, “Teach girls, bravery not perfection,” has more than five million views globally. Reshma began her career as an attorney and Democratic organizer. In 2010, she surged onto the political scene as the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress. Reshma lives in New York City with her husband, Nihal, their sons, Shaan and Sai, and their bulldog, Stanley.

*This episode is an excerpt taken from our 2022 interview.