The 2017 Makers Conference: Sheryl Sandberg – Equality at Work

No, I believe very deeply that in women, I believe we have the ability to take great moves, make great moves ourselves, lean in, find our ambition, find our confidence. I also believe that no one can do it alone, that we have a responsibility to each other. And that responsibility goes to the federal level and the state level, in our communities, in our nonprofits, in our companies. And it is a challenging time. But any time there's a real challenge is not the time to retreat, but the time to move forward. If you look at the history of lots of social change that's happened, there have always been moments where it looked really hard. And those are moments where we fight harder. We know what the policy agenda is for women. It's very clear. It is equal pay. We are still at 20% less than men, completely unacceptable. It's affordable child care. Child care is unaffordable for parents, especially single mothers in every state in our country. It is paid family and medical leave. And that means robust, comprehensive, 12 weeks, significant wage replacement, covering not just childbirth, but other forms of becoming a family, other family needs. It's equal educational opportunities for women, right? We need better education in this country, let's be clear, for boys and girls. But we need to pay attention to our girls, because they are behind in STEM. They are falling further behind in computer science. And those are many of the jobs of the future. And we owe our girls better. We owe that they get the same as good educations in math and science and computer science. And importantly to me, it means more leadership for women, because at the tables where decisions are made, from our elected officials to our town halls to our companies, we are still outnumbered. And that needs to change.