Sitting at the Table

There is a motif in “Lean In” that begins with an account of a real-life incident and then reappears as a metaphor throughout the work. It has to do with “sitting at the table.” The first mention of “sitting at the table” is in Sheryl Sandberg’s description of an actual occasion when a group of visiting female staff members deferred and wouldn’t sit at the table. “Lean In” is Sheryl Sandberg’s book about the gender-bias problems that women face in the workplace. One of the chief results of this sexism is how women are left with feelings of being “less than,” feelings of being subordinate to men even male peers who are their equals. The incident that established this motif captures that sentiment perfectly. It is such a visual illustration of the point that Sheryl is making that no further words are...