The Lie of Girlboss Feminism: What's Really Holding Women Back

HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

Jean Chatzky Her Money

Investing, Business

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We've been told to lean in, speak up, ask for the raise, and take up space. But what happens when doing everything right still isn't enough? Journalist and financial expert Stefanie O'Connell joins Jean to talk about her deeply researched new book, The Ambition Penalty: How Corporate Culture Tells Women to Step Up — and Then Pushes Them Down. In this conversation, Jean and Stefanie dig into why the girlboss era failed us, why women are penalized not for a lack of ambition but because of it, and what we can actually do about it. They cover: Why being fluent in the language of empowerment is not the same as actually being empowered How the ambition penalty follows women outside the workplace Why you can't outwork inequality, but you can outorganize it What it really takes to build a life where your ambition is championed, not penalized And if you loved today's conversation, don't miss Jean's new book, The Forever Paycheck — your guide to building a secure, steady income stream that lets you actually enjoy the retirement you've worked so hard for. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Attention all passengers.
0:04.1	The Uber ride for Jeff's rugby team will depart in five minutes from Platform 15.
0:09.7	Your ride comes with six toilets and a refreshment's carriage that you'll empty within five minutes.
0:16.5	Thank you for booking your tickets on Uber.
0:20.3	Trains on Uber.
0:22.1	Your team just added its 67th AI tool and also your 67th security blind spot.
0:28.4	The good news, the Vantor agent works like a GRC engineer in the background,
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0:39.1	used by over 16,000 fast-moving companies like Synthesia, Nandoz, and Granola, who are shaping the
0:45.9	future with AI and staying ahead of AI risk. Get started at vanta.com.
0:54.5	You're not going to shrink yourself. You're not going to say, well, I'm not going to buy acom. You're not going to shrink yourself.
0:56.3	You're not going to say, well, I'm not going to buy a home.
0:58.0	You're not going to say, well, I'm not going to go for the job I want or build a life that I love.
1:02.3	Because you know that if you are centering your ambition and that doesn't say something
1:08.5	wrong about you, but a negative response says something about the world around you.
1:14.2	It allows you to live with clarity and then have the people in your life who are okay with that
1:21.3	and who are going to champion you and support you for it.
1:25.7	Hey everyone, welcome to Hermione.
1:27.5	I'm Gene Chatsky.
1:29.1	For decades now, women have been told to lean in, speak up, ask for the raise, take up space,
1:36.7	and for a long time, we believed it would work.
1:40.9	The girl boss era promised us that if women just worked hard enough, hustled long
	...

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