uated from college in 1991
and from business school in 1995. In each entry-level job after graduation, my colleagues were a
balanced mix of male and female. I saw that the senior leaders were almost entirely male, but I
thought that was due to historical discrimination against women. The proverbial glass ceiling had been
cracked in almost every industry, and I believed that it was just a matter of time until my generation
took our fair share of the leadership roles. But with each passing year, fewer and fewer of my
colleagues were women. More and more often, I was the only woman in the room.

Being the sole woman has resulted in some awkward yet revealing situations. Two years after I
joined Facebook as chief operating officer, our chief financial officer departed suddenly, and I had to

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step in to complete a funding round. Since I had spent my career in operations, not finance, the
process of raising capital was new and a bit scary. My team and I flew to New York for the initial
pitch to private equity firms. Our first meeting was held in the kind of corporate office featured in
movies, complete with a sprawling view of Manhattan. I offered an overview of our business and
answered questions. So far so good. Then someone suggested that we break for a few minutes. I
turned to the senior partner and asked where the women’s restroom was. He stared at me blankly. My
question had completely stumped him. I asked, “How long have you been in this office?” And he said,
“One year.” “Am I the only woman to have pitched a deal here in an entire year?” “I think so,” he
said, adding, “or maybe you’re the only one who had to use the bathroom.”

It has been more than two decades since I entered the workforce, and so much is still the same. It is
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time for us to face the fact that our revolution has stalled. The promise of equality is not the same as
true equality.

A truly equal world would be one where women ran half our countries and companies and men ran
half our homes. I believe that this would be a better world. The laws of economics and many studies
of diversity tell us that if we tapped the entire pool of human resources and talent, our collective
performance would improve. Legendary investor Warren Buffett has stated generously that one of the
reasons for his great success was that he was competing with only half of the population. The Warren
Buffetts of my generation are still largely enjoying this advantage. When more people get in the race,
more records will be broken. And the achievements will extend beyond those individuals to benefit us ♀♀網♀
all.

The night before Leymah Gbowee won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for helping to lead the women’s
protests that toppled Liberia’s dictator, she was at a book party in my home. We were celebrating the
publication of her autobiography, Mighty Be Our Powers , but it was a somber night. A guest asked her
how American women could help those who experienced the horrors and mass rapes of war in places
like Liberia. Her response was four simple words: “More women in power.” Leymah and I could not
have come from more different backgrounds, and yet we have both arrived at the same conclusion.
Conditions for all women will improve when there are more women in leadership roles giving strong
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and powerful voice to their needs and concerns.

This brings us to the obvious question—how? How are we going to take down the barriers that
prevent more women from getting to the top? Women face re