Just a Girl
Growing Up Female and Ambitious
Just A Girl is the sensitive, personal story of the author’s ambition to become and succeed as a scientist during the “white man in power” era of the 1950s to 2010s. In the male-dominated science world, she struggles from girlhood unworthiness to sexist battles in jobs on the farms and in the restaurants of America, in academia’s laboratories and field research communities, and in the executive corner office. Jackson overcomes pain, shame, and self-blame, learns to believe in herself when others don’t, and becomes a champion for others.
The turbulent legal and social background of sexual harassment and sexism in America over seven decades is delivered as “history with emotion.” Just a Girl is also a call to action: it identifies the court cases and lawsuits that helped advance the cultural changes we see today; outlines the pressing need for a Boys and Men Liberation (BAML) movement; highlights new approaches by parents; advocates for changes in our universities; and suggests a different direction for corporate America to take to stop the cycle of sexual harassment. Eye-opening and inspiring, it points the way to a brighter future for women everywhere.
ORDER NOW
Reviews
Debut author Jackson recounts incidents of sexual harassment, revealing the generational wounds that the #MeToo movement seeks to heal. . . . An unflinching memoir that offers vital American history.
This powerful memoir will help other women, in spite of anti-female adversity, overcome pain, self-blame, and shame. It will be especially beneficial to vulnerable young women as they try to make their way in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
Lucinda Jackson attains shero status as she chronicles her triumph over sexual harassment that is ever present as air. A corporate scientist and academic, Jackson compellingly weaves her personal story with society’s awakening and progress toward addressing this scourge.
This is a critical book that all corporations should study in order to evolve their companies into a place where women want to work. Lucinda Jackson tells it like it is, and her takeaways and review of legal precedents are relevant to all women and men who work in corporations. Her chronology of the past seven decades teaches us how women are silenced by men and by their own pain, and how difficult it is to break through social and legal barriers to realize their professional and personal dreams. We have a long way to go, but Jackson tells us how we can get there.
Just a Girl needed to be written. It reads like a memoir and keeps the reader captivated; however, it is for all professional women, especially those who have worked in corporate America and lived through the sexual harassment, double standard, and pain of having to mold themselves into a male version of themselves. This book doesn’t leave you angry or feeling hopeless. Instead, it offers solutions for how women can learn to stand in their authentic selves, have a stronger voice, and raise boys to be more conscious and compassionate.
Lucinda Jackson, in authentic first person testimony, recounts the sexual attacks on her from bosses and other high ranking professionals—one after another after another after another, throughout her whole life going back into her 1950s childhood. It was about raw power, bullying from a conscious or unconscious need in the aggressor to dominate and intimidate. The author pulls back the curtain on what women and men have kept conveniently tucked out of sight for decades. The public has gotten a glimpse of it in the confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as the #MeToo movement—but this book documents the pervasiveness of this deceptive toxin throughout all corners of society, and its psyche. Everyone is soaked in the established culture, whether you admit it or not. Lucinda Jackson shows the way to wash ourselves of it, and dry out renewed in the clean fresh air of genuine uplifting human interaction.
As a Silicon Valley refugee myself, I deeply understand how challenging it is to be an ambitious woman in a male-dominated field (and world). Kudos to Jackson for capturing these challenges with spirit and hope. A must-read for all women who have ever bumped into the glass ceiling and broken through. Highly recommended!
In the riveting Just a Girl: Growing up Female and Ambitious, Dr. Lucinda Jackson vividly describes how she surmounted harassment, discrimination, and dirty tricks on America’s farms and at top corporations to become a respected scientist and corporate leader. But rather than focusing on victimhood, she forges powerful recommendations for how women can overcome sexism and pursue successful careers in science. Readers of this book will be inspired to redouble society’s efforts to create a more fair and equitable culture for both women and men.