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Zusatztext 91256179 Informationen zum Autor Kirsten Gillibrand Klappentext NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand recounts her personal journey in public service and galvanizes women to make a meaningful difference in the world around them. "One of the most helpful, readable, down-to-earth, and truly democratic books ever to come out of the halls of power."-Gloria Steinem Off the Sidelines is a playbook for women who want to step up, whether in Congress or the boardroom or the local PTA. If women were fully represented in politics, Gillibrand says, national priorities would shift to issues that directly impact them: affordable daycare, paid family medical leave, and equal pay. Pulling back the curtain on Beltway politics, she speaks candidly about her legislative successes (securing federally funded medical care for 9/11 first responders, repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell) and her crushing disappointments (failing by five votes to pass a bill protecting survivors of sexual assault in the military). Gillibrand also shares stories of growing up the daughter and granddaughter of two trailblazing feminists in a politically active family in Albany, New York, and retraces her nonlinear path to public office. She lays bare the highs and lows of being a young (pregnant!) woman in Congress, the joys and sacrifices every working mother shares, and the support system she turns to in her darkest moments: her husband, their two little boys, and lots of girlfriends. In Off the Sidelines, Gillibrand is the tough-love older sister and cheerleader every woman needs. She explains why "ambition" is not a dirty word, failure is a gift, listening is the most effective tool, and the debate over women "having it all" is absurd at best and demeaning at worst. In her sharp, honest, and refreshingly relatable voice, she dares us all to tap into our inner strength, find personal fulfillment, and speak up for what we believe in. Praise for Off the Sidelines "Gillibrand has written a handbook for the next generation of women to redefine their role in our world."-Arianna Huffington "There are moments of immensely appealing self-disclosure that seldom appear in other books of this genre. . . . This isn't your mother's political memoir."-The New York Times Book Review Chapter 1 I’m One of Polly’s Girls My mother took her criminal-law exam two days after giving birth to my older brother, Douglas. A year and a half later, she stood for her New York Bar character exam three days before she gave birth to me. I should note that my mother, while having more strength and guts than almost anyone I’ve ever met, is only five foot two, so her torso did not leave a lot of room for housing or hiding a baby. Alarmed by the sight of a tiny, very pregnant woman in a huge tent dress, the distinguished gentlemen in the New York State Supreme Court chambers lobbed her three softball questions, told her she passed the character review, and waved her out the door. The year was 1966. Given that she was one of only three women in her law school class, my mother knew she was doing things differently. She believed in her generation’s women’s rights movement, but that wasn’t what motivated her. She built her law practice alongside her family not out of ideology but because she never considered doing otherwise. She wanted a career and she wanted to be a hands-on, present mom, and she made it work. As a girl, I wanted to be just like my mother: smart, self-sufficient, in control. I worked hard to be her favorite, but still she treated me, my sister, Erin, and my brother all the same. To this day, my mother likes to tell people that I am the way I am because, according to the Chinese zodiac, 1966 was the Year of the Fire Horse, a once-every-sixty-years even...
