Kicking in the Doorprovides an insider’s view of how sexism operates—what it’s like to live it, study it, and fight it. For not only was I the first woman ever to hold a tenure-track faculty position at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, I was also the founding director of Stanford’s Center for Research on Women (now the Clayman Institute for Gender Research). I have been not only a role model, but also an initiator of institutional change—as an author, leader of national and international feminist organizations, consultant to businesses, and expert witness in discrimination and divorce ... More

Kicking in the Doorprovides an insider’s view of how sexism operates—what it’s like to live it, study it, and fight it. For not only was I the first woman ever to hold a tenure-track faculty position at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, I was also the founding director of Stanford’s Center for Research on Women (now the Clayman Institute for Gender Research). I have been not only a role model, but also an initiator of institutional change—as an author, leader of national and international feminist organizations, consultant to businesses, and expert witness in discrimination and divorce cases. In addition to its major theme, kicking in the door, the memoir examines my efforts to combine a demanding career with raising a family, my search for a loving relationship after my divorce, my quest for a non-sexist spiritual home within Judaism, the crucial supportive role of my women friends and male allies, the difficulties I experienced trying to create a loving relationship with my sister, Alice Amsden, who was also a Ph.D. economist at a prestigious university, the development of feminist economics and the importance of forgiveness as one moves through life.