Getting to 50/50

“I leaned on this book while writing Lean In.” – Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook

Excel At Your Job, Be Home For Dinner - LEAN IN, ENLIST MEN, GET 50/50

As seen in/on NYT, TIME, USAT, WaPo, ELLE, The TODAY Show and more

In the mass-market paperback re-launch of Getting to 50/50 [Viva Editions, October 24th, 2013], Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober make the heaviest-hitting case to date for how working families really can have it all.

In the four years that have passed since Meers and Strober launched the first edition of their trailblazing work-life treatise Getting to 50/50 on The TODAY Show, a great deal has changed. The so-called fairer sex has become the majority in the workforce, Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In is as ubiquitous a pop culture item as the latest Rihanna single, and researchers across the globe have been in a veritable arms race to collect increasingly persuasive data about the necessity and benefits of more working women, and more actively-engaged fathers.

There’s no denying that women today enjoy equality unknown to prior generations. Now, it’s time to close the gap for good.

By sharing their personal experiences as mothers, wives and successful businesswomen – and unparalleled analysis of social science research – the authors show how, if we are willing to change the way we perceive our choices in career, marriage and childrearing, we can have much, much more of what we want. Getting to 50/50 offers a practical roadmap to help women - and men - stay engaged with their kids without sacrificing their careers (or, for that matter, their sex lives)!

“We have a long way to go before we achieve equality,” writes Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, in a thought-provoking foreword written specifically for the 2013 edition of Getting to 50/50. “50/50 is not just the fair thing to do, but the better thing to do for a family.”

A refreshing, important and game-changing read that’s set to do for the cultural dialogue around working families what Lean In did for working women, Getting to 50/50 offers encouragement, hope, and confidence to any woman who has ever questioned her choices regarding career and family.

“Getting to 50/50 builds on what the latest research tells us: that children can thrive with two working parents and that fathers and mothers play equally important roles. I wish this book had existed when I was raising young daughters.”

—Kathleen McCartney, Dean, Harvard Graduate School of Education

“Too many women think they have to give up the career they love to have a happy family. Getting to 50/50 shows them how to negotiate with bosses and husbands so that everybody wins—including the kids. Highly recommended.”

—Linda Babcock, coauthor of Women Don’t Ask and Ask for It

“A tremendously refreshing and insightful read for parents who want to meet their career aspirations and raise balanced, happy children.”

—Alexandria Albers, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley

“Yesterday’s books were about the war between the sexes. Getting to 50/50 is a peace treaty—a solution where both sexes win.”

—Penelope Trunk, author of Brazen Careerist

“The fresh message of Getting to 50/50 exposes the missing link that nobody talks about.”

—Megan O’Connor, Authors@Google

“Wish I’d had a book like this years ago when I was a young working mother. Neither my husband nor I had a clue about how to juggle the demands of our careers with the demands of being good parents. Our marriage suffered as a result. Today’s working couples are fortunate to have a great book like Getting to 50/50 to turn to for helpful advice.”

—BJ Gallagher, author of It’s Never Too Late to Be What You Might Have Been and Being Buddha at Work

“We all have the capacity to be successful in our careers, and in our family lives as well. Getting to 50/50: How Working Parents Can Have It All is the ideal resource every spouse needs to make that happen. This book is not only a tool to help improve your work/life balance; it also serves as a timeless gift which benefits the entire family.”

—David Mezzapelle, author of Contagious Optimism

“Sharon Meers and Joanna Strober are pioneers in illuminating the path for working couples to have it all. And as pioneers, they have personally traveled the territory and offer an array of insights and options that nourish relationships and careers. If you are struggling with how working couples can have it all, you must read Getting to 50/50 for yourself, for your children, for your career and for your relationship.”

—Susyn Reeve, author of The Inspired Life

“When I was growing up there was a chewing gum commercial on the radio with a tune that touted, ‘Double your pleasure, double your fun.’ I think it would be a great anthem for this insightful book that wisely shows not only the advantages of being a working couple but also why it is great for the kids as well. And, you, the reader, will surely double your knowledge and pleasure by reading Getting to 50/50.”

—Allen Klein, author of Mom’s the Word: The Wit, Wisdom and Wonder of Motherhood