Authority: it’s a man’s world.

This week, two women asked for my advice on how to tackle being talked over at work. This made it the perfect time to ask journalist and radio presenter Mary Ann Sieghart about her new book, The Authority Gap. Why women are still taken less seriously than men and what to do about it.

She shares evidence of the authority gap from people who have changed gender, the risk of unconscious bias (asdemonstrated by Andrew Neil…aka what not to do) and advice for those (men and women) struggling to get it right.

A specific example she cites is how in appraisals women are more often described with ‘grindstone’ adjectives: ‘hardworking’, ‘diligent’, ‘conscientious’. While men are more often described as ‘brilliant’, ‘talented’ or ‘outstanding’. She urges us all - but especially the enlightened men among us - to be more aware of our biases and language, to read equally of both genders, to give thought to the mix of these we follow on social media and not to accidentally default to addressing men before women.

I’ve had extremely mixed reactions to the edit this week, so I’m very interested in your take.

On other issues, I’m about to start a UK-wide research project with Eleanor Mills and team at Noon into what is going on for midlife women after Covid. If your organisation is interested in this demographic, from an inclusion or consumer/client perspective, and would like to get involved, do get in touch.

All power to you, my friends.

Christine

PS.

The Authority Gap is published on July 1 by Doubleday, £16.99