While there is a lot of info here, the title is misleading. Maybe half the text is about alpha girls, the rest about the increasing status of women in general. There is a whole chapter on the "descent" of boys/men. There is a recitation of common wisdom that a woman will be president and that women professionals like/need flex time. There is also lot of peripheral text (for a book on alpha girls) for instance, about women in Norway, anecdotes about the status of women in the 50's, random data and interviews about the sexuality of college females, etc.
While the many charts are documented by source, I had the feeling that the author took the data at hand, rather than the best data to illustrate his points. The bar charts with alpha girls data plotted with all girls and all boys were very illustrative, but there were a lot of charts that seemed to be of general interest or just filler. Some charts extrapolated 45 years showing female predominance in various endeavors without comment. It is spurious to assume today's data, which represents an abrupt break from history, will meaningfully project so far outward. The charts are provided without comment on the potential for a plateauing of the trend.
The author cites Simone de Beauvoir's observation that once women were more valued by their families and their culture, a new psychology would follow. This topic of the "new girl" is worthy of treatment, which this book only promises to do.
As the father of an "alpha girl" (now a freshman in college), I strongly believe that the author has captured the essense of the dramatic changes that have occurred in the lives of girls. I came of age during the 1970's, in the era of women's liberation. I did my best to raise a strong and independent daughter.
What has amazed me, however, is the degree to which my daughter takes for granted her strength and independence. Some part of me wants to say, "But don't you get it? This is supposed to be hard. You're supposed to have to wrestle with the demons of sexism and fight for it." This book shows why I'm the one who "doesn't get it". Powerful changes going on under the surface have radically altered the landscape for smart, capable young women.
Girls today, such as my daughter, simply know that they are every bit as capable as boys. It is not a false bravado. My daughter has complained in her Karate class about the inequity of genetics that gives boys greater upper body strength. Those differences didn't stop her, however, when a boy at a dance club grabbed her from behind. Without hesitation, she put him on the ground in an arm lock.
These are the girls who grew up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Zena Princess Warrior, and even the Pink Power Ranger. They simply expect to succeed. It's part of their internal mythology, in the same way that I grew up with John Wayne as an icon.
This book gives the underpinnings for how this transformation occurred. Just as interesting, the book also offers some glimpses ahead of a very different world. Current trends in rates of women versus men graduating college and getting higher degrees / professional degrees show a nation where in the top ranks, women will be earning more than men. That shift in power is hard for a middle-aged guy like me to comprehend. Alpha girls don't have any trouble with the idea; they simply expect to make a lot of money, and wield a lot of influence.
What the book does not address so well, as other reviewers have pointed out, is what happens with the other 99%+ of girls out there who do not meet the author's definition of "alpha girls". The author makes clear the limitations of his approach and methodology, but this topic begs for a larger, more inclusive look at the lives of girls.
