Book Review
SOS – A Navigation Guide for Women at Work, written by Lidewij Wiersma, Chantal Korteweg, Tessel van Willigen and Marijn Wiersma, is a transformative handbook that tackles the common challenges faced by women in the workplace. Combining a delightful blend of wit and wisdom, the book explores 18 themes such as health, bias, conflict, humor, language, guilt and leadership. This lighthearted yet practical guide is designed for women and their allies. Featuring extensive research and insights from four intergenerational authors, SOS reshapes the definition of success, challenges outdated norms, and advocates for workplaces where every voice is valued.
On 5 March 2025, the book SOS: A Navigation Guide for Women at Work was released in New York, published by United States based Morgan James Publishing and co-authored by Lidewij Wiersma, Chantal Korteweg, Tessel van Willigen and Marijn Wiersma. SOS: A Navigation Guide for Women at Work is an accessible and practical guide to improve gender equality, embrace diversity and rewrite the unwritten rules of the workplace. Worldwide, the percentage of women in senior management roles is 32 percent. The average global gender pay gap is 24 percent. There is no country where the gender pay gap does not exist or where it favours women. This book champions women’s presence at the decision-making table. It inspires women to embrace leadership roles and wield their power in ways that promote positive change, both within their organisations and beyond.
Through the SOS framework - SELF, OTHERS, and SOCIETY - this guide offers multifaceted solutions to multifaceted issues:
SELF: What can you do yourself?
OTHERS: How can others help you, and how can you help others?
SOCIETY: How should society and the unwritten rules change—and what can you do to support this change?
From interviews to personal narratives, actionable advice, and thought-provoking reflections, SOS will have you laughing as it empowers you to be the architect and advocate for change in your professional environment.
Author Quotes
Most women have no problem identifying the hurdles and pitfalls in themselves, others and the entire system, but knowing how to change these for the better is infinitely harder.
Mountains of self help books have been published telling us how we need to be better and do better. We think that an individual can benefit from advice, but in most cases, the individual is not at the heart of the problem.
We are in favour of personal growth, but we would like to start from the premise that you are enough and you have to do what works for you.
About the authors
Trained as a lawyer, Chantal Korteweg feels strongly about social justice. She is a strategic executor and contributes to making our world a better and more inclusive, sustainable place. She has become an all-around professional as an attorney-at-law and a development banker, and now she is the Director for Inclusive Banking at the Dutch bank ABN AMRO. Chantal grew up in England and the Netherlands, sparking her love for travel and culture and her interest in different perspectives. She enjoys getting the best out of herself and others, and she always wants to learn. She initiated the Fempower Your Growth program, a Dutch Financial Sector initiative, connecting the worlds of bankers and female entrepreneurs. She pays it forward by being a mentor and an advisory board member. She was appointed as the Women’s Representative for the Netherlands in 2023, and provided a statement to the UN General Assembly that year about financial inequality between women and men and the importance of financial independence of women. Chantal lives in Leiden, the Netherlands, with her 11-year-old son, 9-year-old daughter, and 3-year-old dog.
Marijn Wiersma is a corporate anthropologist and the founder of Incredible Impact, a company founded to unlock the potential of female entrepreneurs and leaders in service of a better world. Currently, she works as the Director of Partnership and Innovation at the 2X Collaborative. She is the co-author of the book Banking for a Better World and an expert on diversity and financial inclusion. As a visionary, multi-linguist, and free thinker, she is creative, curious, and innovative. Marjin founded Zambia’s first private nursing school. She is an ESG and gender expert and an executive coach. A lover of storytelling, she organized TEDxLeiden and various Future of Finance events, facilitated female leadership programs, and has made a docuseries on female role models in the financial sector. Her twenty-plus years of sustainable development experience led her to Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
Marijn has lived on three continents, worked in more than 35 countries, and is a mother of four. She currently resides in the Netherlands.
Tessel van Willigen is a management trainee at Hieroo Amsterdam, where she works on social projects to create positive impact in the region. She has a master’s degree in Human Geography and is specialist in International Development Studies.
Tessel interned for Incredible Impact, a company founded with the aim to unlock the potential of female entrepreneurs and female leaders in service of a better world. As part of her bachelor’s degree, Tessel studied for one semester at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. There she found her strength as a connector: bringing together different cultures, disciplines, and points of view to make a positive difference. Tessel couples her strong analytical mind with an enthusiastic and hands-on mentality to create positive impact. Tessel is continuously in search of new insights, has a passion to learn, and does not shy away from challenging situations. She lives in Amsterdam with three friends.
Lidewij Wiersma is a veterinarian with a penchant for collecting academic titles: She has a bachelor’s degree in immunology and virology, a veterinary degree, and a PhD in emerging respiratory zoonoses, and she’s also a board-certified veterinary specialist in pathology. She is a serial-CEO, first of the European Board of Veterinary Specialization (EBVS) and now of Veterinary Continuous Education in Europe (VetCEE). She has also worked as a consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations since 2016. Lidewij feels strongly about contributing to the current wave of feminism. Although she has been offered leadership opportunities, she has turned them down to date, awaiting meaningful change in our workplace culture—and doing her part to inspire that change. Lidewij has lived in nine countries on three continents, and she has finally settled in Italy. She lives on five hectares of land in the countryside just north of Rome, with her Italian husband and their two sons, two horses, two goats, a cow, a pig, a dog, and 60 olive trees.
Why LoA loves it…
In a world where we are still talking about the need to improve gender equality and embrace diversity in the workplace, and where change is not happening fast enough, it’s time to rewrite the unwritten rules that exist and that hold women back. In their excellent new book, SOS – A Navigation Guide for Women at Work, co-authors Lidewij Wiersma, Chantal Korteweg, Tessel van Willigen and Marijn Wiersma, have created a transformative and practical handbook that tackles the common challenges faced by women in the workplace. They address a wide range of challenges by bringing a depth of research and insights to the table, delivered with both pragmatism, wit and a light touch, that is sure to resonate with women readers. This is a must read for all those women who want to change the narrative about gender equality and diversity in the workplace, and importantly, be the change they want to see. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa