Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Why Women's Lives Aren't Getting Any Easier--And How We Can Make Real Progress For Ourselves and Our Daughters

As a young woman, Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney asked her grandmother for career advice. She was shocked by the reply: "Get married."
Though much has changed for women since then, more has remained the same. On a January night in 2008, Maloney and her daughter attended a Hillary Clinton rally in New Hampshire. Some men in the audience held "Iron My Shirt" posters aloft. This small incident provoked outrage, but it provided an important peephole onto larger problems that women face today.
In her groundbreaking book, Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated, Congresswoman Maloney shatters the myths about how far we've come, highlighting how women's issues permeate every realm of society, and how political change has provided only a fraction of a solution.
The former cochair of the Women's Caucus, Maloney has access to a wealth of cutting-edge research that helps her illuminate how far behind we still fall on gender equality in issues from health care to educational opportunities, from poverty to reproductive freedom. It's a fact that women are working harder than ever, but they're still only paid three-quarters the salary of their male counterparts. She weaves this vital information with gripping stories of real women, making clear that she's not taking some abstract political position. She's talking about real people, real lives.
Maloney also points the way forward, sharing inspiring tales of female activists who have managed to make a difference and presenting readers with "take action" guides that show all women practical ways they can help bring about change in their lives and the lives of others.

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney was elected to New York's 14th congressional district (parts of Manhattan and Queens) in the House of Representatives in 1992, the so-called Year of the Woman. Chair of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, vice chair of the Joint Economic Committee, and former cochair of the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues, she passed numerous bills to improve the lives of women and families. Her work on antirape legislation was the basis of a Lifetime movie A Life Interrupted, in which one of the major characters was Carolyn B. Maloney. Among her achievements are passage of legislation to end trafficking of women, improve women's health and reproductive rights, expand affordable child care, create a human rights commission in Afghanistan, and provide funding for women's programs to combat the Taliban's oppression.