The Ambition Penalty

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For women disillusioned by the failed promises of girl power, a data-driven guide that reveals the hidden forces still fueling gender inequality at work. We spoke up. We took charge. We asked for more. But where has it actually left us? Not only are generations of women more burned-out than ever, but the gender pay gap has barely budged in decades. In The Ambition Penalty , journalist Stefanie O’Connell presents a deeply researched and sometimes shocking look at the ways women remain passed over and excluded, not for a lack of ambition but because of it. She calls it “the ambition penalty”—the sum of the financial, personal, and professional costs women face for daring to want more. The Ambition Penalty dismantles the myth that women are less ambitious than their male peers and debunks common claims—like women aren’t confident enough and don’t negotiate