But the upside of painful knowledge is so much greater than the downside of blissful ignorance.

The gender stereotypes introduced in childhood are reinforced throughout our lives and become self-fulfilling prophesies. Most leadership positions are held by men, so women don't expect to achieve them, and that becomes one of the reasons they don't.

And anyway, who wears a tiara on a jungle gym?

I'm not telling women to be like men. I'm telling us to evaluate what men and women do in the workforce and at home without the gender bias.

Our aspirations are really for women to be in half the leadership roles and men to be doing half the work of parenting.

When looking for a life partner, my advice to women is date all of them: the bad boys, the cool boys, the commitment-phobic boys, the crazy boys. But do not marry them. The things that make the bad boys sexy do not make them good husbands.

We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.