The Ambition Penalty

“Finance journalist O’Connell delivers a rigorous, incisive examination of how the corporate world simultaneously demands and punishes women’s ambition… Punchy and accessible.”—Publishers Weekly

“For far too long, society has defined women by their roles as partners and parents first—with our professional ambitions constrained by these caretaking roles. In The Ambition Penalty, O’Connell throws out these patriarchal lessons and gives women a new playbook for reclaiming our ambition, our time, and our values.” —Eve Rodsky, author of New York Times bestseller Fair Play

“The book offers ambitious women a bold new framework—not by asking them to change who they are or what they want, but by working together to challenge the systems that punish them for it. The Ambition Penalty is not a self-help book, it is a cultural reckoning and an urgent call to action.” —Tiffany Aliche, author of New York Times bestseller Get Good with Money

“Every woman I know is paying the ambition penalty right now. Most of us just don’t know it. This book is going to change, even save, lives.” —Emma Pattee, author of USA Today bestseller Tilt

“A testament to what’s possible when women are liberated from keeping themselves small to make other people comfortable.” —Farnoosh Torabi, author of You’re So Money, and host of the So Money podcast

“The Ambition Penalty is the book women have been waiting for. If you’re tired of hustle culture and done feeling like your ambition is the problem, this book will set you free. It breaks down the real reasons women are still getting held back, at work and at home, and reveals what it really takes to overcome them. Every woman should read this, and honestly, every manager and leader should too.” —Jamila Souffrant, author of Your Journey to Financial Freedom, and host of the Journey to Launch podcast

“Stefanie O’Connell’s The Ambition Penalty is like an entire gender studies course condensed into a propulsive, portable volume. It not only gets you up to speed on all the latest research on the forces holding women back, but provides practical scripts on how to counter the narratives keeping us stuck, and in doing so starts a new conversation on how collectively we can ask for and expect more. Every woman in your life needs a copy, and the men married to them and managing them do, too! I will be recommending it to my students!”—Corinne Low, bestselling author of Having It All

“The Ambition Penalty proves what so many women have long suspected: it’s not in our heads. With crisp, compelling data, O’Connell shows that women aren’t just less likely to be rewarded for asking—we’re often punished for it. Rigorous, incisive, and galvanizing.” —Rachel Hills, author of The Sex Myth