No Excuses

Feminist icon Gloria Feldt pulls no punches in her new book, which encourages women to step into positions of power and leadership—now. In No Excuses, she argues that the most confounding problem facing women today isnt that doors arent open, but that not enough women are walking through them. From the boardroom to the bedroom, public office to personal relationships, she asserts that nobody is keeping women from parity—except themselves.

Through interviews, historical perspective, and anecdotes, No Excuses examines why barriers to equality still exist in American society. Feldt employs a no-nonsense, tough-love point of view to expose the internal and external roadblocks holding women back, but she doesnt place blame; rather, she provides inspiration, hope, and courage—as well as concrete “power tools”—the 9 ways, with one highlighted in each chapter—to aid women in securing equality and justice for themselves.

No Excuses is a timely and invaluable book that intends to help women equalize gender power in politics, work, and love.

“I was incredibly moved by the inspiring stories in No Excuses. To honor the women who came before us, we need to recognize each other and listen for our inherent wisdom. This is a book youll be quoting.” —Rosario Dawson, actress

“Feldt is one of the most motivating women in America, period. Her observations are sharp and her courage is contagious—for women of both political parties.” —Cindi Leive,

Editor-In-Chief of Glamour magazine

“An up-to-the-minute, indispensable book. This book is the coach young women need.” —Gloria Steinem

“One of those books that has the power to change your life. Its challenging and smart, but most important, it gives you actual tools you can use to walk in your own power.”

—Jane Fonda

“Glorias redefinition of power is exactly what the world needs today.”—Peter Buffett, composer, philanthropist, and author of Life Is What You Make It

“No Excuses challenges women to embrace their strength and choose power over fear.” —Jehmu Greene, President, Womens Media Center

Through interviews, historical perspective, and anecdotes, feminist icon Feldt examines why barriers to gender equality still exist in American society, and explains nine ways women can change how they think about power.

Feminist icon Gloria Feldt pulls no punches in this new book, which argues that the most confounding problem facing women today isnt that doors of opportunity arent open, but that not enough women are walking through them. From the boardroom to the bedroom, public office to personal relationships, she asserts that nobody is keeping women from parity—except themselves.

Feldt puts women's power into an historical context, showing the ways in which women have made huge leaps forward in the past, only to pull back right when they were at the threshold. Feldt argues that there's no excuse—whether it's the way women are socialized, or pressure to conform, or work/life balance issues—for women today not to own their power. Women are still facing unequal pay, being passed over for promotions, entering public office at a much lesser rate than men, and oftentimes still struggling with traditional power dynamics in their interpersonal relationships. Feldt's solution to all these places where women face inequality is the same: we need to shift the way we think to achieve true parity with our male counterparts.

No Excuses is divided into nine chapters that organized around how women can change the way they think, and therefore the way they act. These include: Know Your History and You Can Create the Future of Your Choice; Define the Terms—First; Embrace Controversy; Employ Every Medium; and other helpful ideas for using the tools and resources women already have to create the changes they want to see. No Excuses is a timely and invaluable book to help women equalize gender power in politics, work, and love.

Gloria Feldt is the former president and CEO of Planned Parenthood and a sought-after public speaker, lecturing at universities, civic and professional organizations, and national and international conferences on women, feminism, politics, leadership, media, and health. In addition to her keynotes on these topics, she tours with an intergenerational feminist panel, WomenGirlsLadies. She is a professor of practice at Arizona State University, where she teaches “Women, Power, and Leadership.”

Feldt's commentary has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, among other print publications. On the web, she is a commentator for Truthout, the Daily Beast, Salon, Democracy Journal, Womens eNews, Huffington Post, WIMNs Voices, Womens Media Center, the International Leadership Forums ilfpost, BlogHer, and her own website www.GloriaFeldt.com and its blogs: Heartfeldt Politics, Courageous Leadership, and Powered Women. She currently serves on the boards of the Womens Media Center and the Jewish Womens Archive, and on the Our Bodies, Ourselves advisory board.

Gloria and her husband, Alex Barbanell, have a combined family of six children, nine grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. They live in New York, NY and in Scottsdale, AZ.