A Good Time to be a Girl is an optimistic case for the power of girl- and womanhood in a patriarchy. Helena Morrissey has a background as a City CEO. She is also a mother of nine with a stay-at-home husband and the leader of the successful 30% Club campaign to achieve more women on UK company boards. Drawing on her eclectic experience and that of those around her in the office and at home, this is a handbook for girls about how to approach their careers, as well as a key resource for women looking to break through to the next level, and those who want to support or understand them.

We talk about ‘diversity’ initiatives to refer to girls and women, who make up half the world, and the ‘inclusion’ of those with less privileged socio-economic backgrounds than the 10% although that description applies to most of us. After centuries of patriarchy, an unprecedented opportunity to rebalance masculine and feminine influence is within sight. ‘Feminine’ attributes such as empathy and emotional intelligence are ever-more valuable in a world where we need true diversity of thought to listen and learn from those who hold different views. Using the stories of professionals of all ages and genders, as well as her unconventional family structure as examples, the author explains why we have recently embarked on an accelerated path towards gender equality and how it can liberate all of us. Morrissey, who read Philosophy at Cambridge University, looks at countries with matriarchal and patriarchal societies to demonstrate how these cultural differences influence decisions and strategies.

In this powerful intersectional handbook for success and manifesto for gender equality, Helena Morrissey demonstrates that we can be equal but we are different – and together we are stronger. A Good Time to be a Girl demonstrates how homogeneity is flawed, offering a radical solution: rather than leaning into an existing system, we must change the paradigm.