Ever been told to be more assertive? Don’t listen. Read this:

‘What shall we do? ‘I don’t mind. Whatever you like.’ When I was younger, my conversations would often follow this pattern, me being the one not minding. One day, a friend gave me the well-meant advice to get some assertiveness training, because I seemed so insecure. But I didn’t feel like that at all. Nowadays, I sometimes …

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Stereotypical Barbie is dead, long live the stereotype!

When I put a few pages about Barbie in my latest book – We-mind vs Me-mind, published in July – I wanted to illustrate how what we’ve learned to value in ourselves and others is making a lot of people deeply unhappy and perpetuates the very situation we want to change. Unfortunately, the latest Barbie …

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Let’s stop beating ourselves up! What the latest UN report on gender bias really shows

It sounds shocking: 90 percent of the world population, including women, is biased against women, according to the latest UN Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI). But this representation of the facts is profoundly skewed. Yes, there is a lot of room for improvement. But there is no reason to despair. And the solution is obvious: …

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My Dad’s old suitcase. Let go of it?

My Dad has been resisting moving into a care home for years. He couldn’t let go of the world he created, even if it was less and less comfortable to be in. Last summer he couldn’t look after himself anymore. We, his daughters, took the tough decision to overrule his judgment. My youngest sister moved …

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Ants in my pants – what to do if you’re unable to sit still

This summer I had terrible ants in my pants. It wasn’t funny anymore. But what do you do if you can’t sit still? There was a time that I’d take holidays in small beach hotels or roaming the Mediterranean coast on a boat with a small group of friends. All there was to do was …

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‘Nobody could have done it but a woman’ — Lessons about leadership from a president

‘The thing about leadership is that you have to be prepared to fail and start again,’ says Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She is the living example of perseverance. She was jailed three times, had to flee the country and campaign more than once before becoming the first elected female head of state in Africa. For 12 …

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