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The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About It
The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About It | Mary Ann Sieghart
15 posts | 7 read | 7 to read
An incisive, intersectional look at the mother of all gender biases: a resistance to womens authority and power. Every woman has a story of being underestimated, ignored, challenged, or patronized in the workplace. Maybe she tried to speak up in a meeting, only to be talked over by male colleagues. Or a client addressed her male subordinate instead of her. These stories remain true even for women at the top of their fields; in the U.S. Supreme Court, for example, female justices are interrupted four times more often than their male colleaguesand 96 percent of the time by men. Despite the progress weve made toward equality, we still fail, more often than we might realize, to take women as seriously as men. In The Authority Gap, journalist Mary Ann Sieghart provides a startling perspective on the gender bias at work in our everyday lives and reflected in the world around us, whether in pop culture, media, school classrooms, or politics. With precision and insight, Sieghart marshals a wealth of data from a variety of disciplinesincluding psychology, sociology, political science, and businessand talks to pioneering women like Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo, renowned classicist Mary Beard, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, and Hillary Clinton. She speaks with women from a range of backgrounds to explore how gender bias intersects with race and class biases. Eye-opening and galvanizing, The Authority Gap teaches us how we as individuals, partners, parents, and coworkers can together work to narrow the gap. Sieghart exposes unconscious bias in this fresh feminist take on how to address and counteract systemic sexism in ways that benefit us all: men as well as women.
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review
TrishB
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Pickpick

I didn‘t particularly learn anything new- but things I feel anecdotally were backed up with a lot of statistics and evidence.
There was a lot of guidance on how to address some things. But a lot still comes down to personal courage. If you‘re constantly cut across by your male boss in meetings what do you do? Very personal but sometimes it‘s the micro aggressions that affect us everyday.

Cathythoughts Sounds interesting! Yes , the micro aggressions 👍🏻 2y
TrishB @Cathythoughts and very hard to evidence! 2y
81 likes2 comments
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Pickpick

Even though for me it covers ground I‘ve seen in other books, it‘s a great book & highlights many of the issues & problems we still haven‘t managed to “fix”. In fact, I think the pandemic actually heightened some of the disparities even more. As white supremacy seems to be wedding itself to misogyny online (not that they weren‘t always) as anyone who reads online comments has surely noticed, I don‘t think this issue is going away anytime soon. ⤵️

Riveted_Reader_Melissa ↪️ maybe more of… it isn‘t bothering to hide in the shadows anymore. 2y
40 likes1 comment
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MallenNC
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Pickpick

The people who most need to read a book like this probably never will. I liked that the author recognizes she can‘t speak for all kinds of women so she gets input from many successful women from different places, fields, and backgrounds. The “What We Can Do About It” is only one chapter, but it does cover individuals, society, teachers, parents, etc. A good book if you haven‘t read similar books before. #SheSaid

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staci.reads
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Pickpick

It tackles tough issues without pulling punches, and that makes it a pick for me even though it covers territory and research I've read about in multiple previous books, both with the #Shesaid group and others. The stories about threats and violence toward women in positions of power and women who speak out on issues of sexism will never not make me furious. @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

KathyWheeler What frustrates and angers me so much about these threats is the whole, “Oh well, there‘s nothing we can do about it” attitude. 🤬 2y
57 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Hello!!! Spring is in the air here! Finally 😮‍💨

How are you all doing this week? What did you think of the book and it‘s wrap-up?

I have some thoughts, and I‘ll add them to the comments. See you there!

#SheSaid

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Despite the fact that I know there are no easy answers to this issue…. I was kinda still hoping for something new in the conclusion 🤣. Something special… and I know there is no magic pill here. Guess I‘m still hopefully gullible. 🫠. Anyway, even though parts were repetitive for me/us (because of our previous reads)…I still think she put it all together well and did much better than some others with intersectionality and including other pov‘s⤵️ 2y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa ↪️ of unbalance. And did very well with stating what she didn‘t and couldn‘t fully know because of her own ingrained privileges…I really appreciated that personally…she mentioned Disability, which so often gets skipped over in these discussions 🤷‍♀️ 2y
KathyWheeler I liked that she mentioned where she was coming from in terms of privilege and that she talked to trans people to get their perspectives as well. I felt the wrap up didn‘t really provide anything concrete though, and I was hoping for that. Overall, I liked it even though I‘ve already read similar books. She added enough that was different to keep me reading. (edited) 2y
vlwelser I thought it was well written and well organized but I wasn't exactly blown away by new revelations. It did make me stop and think for a sec before making a joke about Biden's appearance. And then I did it anyway. Because I'm a bit of an ass. 2y
staci.reads @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I agree, she handled the chapter on intersectionality well. I believe if it were an early work that I had read on the subject of sexism and the effects of patriarchy, it would have been a powerful read. I was still greatly angered by her chapter on violence toward women in power or with a voice even though that also is not new information for me...it doesn't get less infuriating. 2y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @staci.reads I agree, with all of that! 2y
SamAnne Agree with all these comments. It is a book I would recommend to younger people beginning their working lives. But I did feel like I lived a lot of this. Despite my jaded outlook, I still couldn‘t help but want some new insights. 2y
23 likes9 comments
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vlwelser
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Pickpick

So interesting. This definitely made me think.

#SheSaid @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!! 2y
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SamAnne
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Mehso-so

I wanted to like this more. It is an important topic and author does a great job of laying out the research & statistics on why women have such a higher hill to climb in the professional world. But at my age I‘ve experienced all the crap. I wanted more insight into “what can we do about it.” There was nothing new, though all good ideas. I give it 5 stars for young men/women entering college, the professional world⬇️

SamAnne Or men/women entering managerial/leadership roles. But for me at 55 the read was just a trip down memory lane of the worst lows of my career in progressive activism and a reminder of why I‘m twice as burned out and exhausted as most men my age. And I left my career last year because I was just so done—for a variety of reasons. But the good old boy network certainly played a big part in why I feel so crisped. #shesaid (edited) 2y
Suet624 I hear ya and I‘m sorry. 2y
SamAnne @Suet624 I didn't intend to come off as so bitter! I've let a lot of it go at this point. Obviously the book dredged some crap up for me.... 🤔 😳 😔 🙄 2y
Suet624 I didn‘t see you as being bitter. Just very honest. I‘m older than you and understand completely what you‘re talking about. It‘s been a lot of years of experiencing this crap. 2y
BarbaraTheBibliophage Ugh. So frustrating! 2y
56 likes5 comments
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Hello #SheSaid!!! How‘s everyone doing this weekend?

I‘m finally caught up on my end with this book, so yay for me 😂.

How‘s everyone else doing this week?

CBee @Riveted_Reader_Melissa you can remove me for now, I haven‘t been keeping up 🤷‍♀️ 2y
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa @CBee Will do, I was behind myself a bit this month. Have fun with whatever you are reading…and if you ever want added back, just let me know. 2y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa I can see why everyone was having a bit of déjà vu with this one, I think that means we‘ve read a lot about this issues and that a bunch of the revelations we‘ve read elsewhere. Go us! But if we had read this one first we would have loved it too, it‘s not a fault of the book we read others first. She does reference Kate Manne‘s Down Girl a bunch, which makes me want to reread it… (edited) 2y
SamAnne I need to catch up. Hopefully Monday. The first section of the book feels like nothing new…(yeah, tell me about it). And there are some interesting stats. Interested in getting to any potential advice/solutions she offers up. 2y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa …. and pick up her follow up Entitled that has been starring at me from my shelves for awhile now. (edited) 2y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @SamAnne Yes! I want more of the “what we can do about it” part. 2y
MallenNC I also got caught up today. I am appreciating the anecdotes from women in these fields. My feelings are those of the actor from Little Women — are we still having this fight in 2023? It‘s frustrating how slow progress has been and how much we seem to backslide. 2y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @MallenNC Yes! It seems we will always be having these same fights…1 step forward, 2 back… I wish I knew what she had to say about the recent back turn in other “rights”. 2y
CBee @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I sure will! 😊 2y
vlwelser I liked her chapter about women in politics. How they are treated differently but also how successful they prove to be. Probably mostly because they are held to a different standard but also because they just have a different perspective. 2y
KathyWheeler @vlwelser I liked that chapter as well. I also found the bit where she talked to some trans women about the difference in how they were treated before and after their transitions to be interesting. 2y
staci.reads I found the sections on the affinity bias and the queen bee syndrome interesting. This statistic floored me..."Once a company had appointed a woman to a top tier job, the chances of a second woman getting to the same level dropped by fifty percent." 2y
staci.reads I really appreciated chapter 10 including information on religion and churches and that internal leadership bias. I haven't seen that included in the discussion of power often. 2y
32 likes15 comments
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KathyWheeler
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81% of people quoted in news stories about abortion are men. 81% !!

Bookwormjillk Incredible 2y
Soubhiville 🤬 2y
TrishB I want to swear loudly, but it‘s no surprise really 🤬 2y
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Suet624 What @trishb said. 2y
KathyWheeler @TrishB You‘re right. Unfortunately, it‘s no surprise at all. Infuriating, but no surprise. 2y
jlhammar Wow, that is messed-up. So infuriating. 2y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa I know!!! 🤯 That one jumped right out at me too! 2y
20 likes7 comments
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Hello #SheSaid. How are you doing this week? The month‘s flying by here.

How are you doing with this book so far? Thoughts?

See you in the comments

vlwelser I may have read this too early in the week. I do love this book. Being able to pinpoint something from the reading this week is a struggle however. 2y
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Bookwormjillk Like the first few chapters a lot of this seemed familiar to me. I‘m hoping we start to hear some solutions soon. 2y
MallenNC I keep thinking about chapter 5. That confidence isn‘t the same as competence, and all these internationally known, powerful women who say they feel imposter syndrome. It‘s hard to accept that women are still fighting that in 2023, because of how men and women are socialized. No wonder Janet Yellen over prepares. 2y
KathyWheeler I loved the mayor‘s scarf indicating who talked the most on a council that had a relatively equal number of men and women. 2y
staci.reads I think the book is improving as it progresses although there is still a lot of retread. I liked Chapter 4, It's Not a Zero-Sum Game and the evidence to show everyone benefits from gender equality. 2y
staci.reads @MallenNC I also really liked the discussion of competence versus confidence. I have seen stats before about the difference between men and women and their self perception. But it still surprises me how much of a discrepancy there is. 2y
staci.reads Also, I love the term conversational manspreading! 😂 2y
28 likes9 comments
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Hello #SheSaid!

I‘m behind in my reading, so start discussing without me! I‘ll see you in the comments as soon as I finish up.

Bookwormjillk A lot of the intro repeats things I‘ve read before, but I thought the insights into women vs men and the handling of covid were really interesting 2y
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vlwelser I think this is well written but I feel like we're getting a lot of the same stories. I still like it but I want something new. Comparing the gender of world leaders to their Covid outcomes was kind of eye opening. 2y
Julsmarshall My hold just came through, hope to start this this week! 2y
KathyWheeler I agree about hearing the same things. I‘m liking the book because it is well-written— I read all of this section in one day — but it is repetitive. I‘d also heard the COVID comparison before. Maybe from Amanda Palmer, who ended up living in New Zealand for awhile because that‘s where she was when everything shut down. She may have made some observations that wondered about that. 2y
staci.reads I would agree that so far, there has been a lot of rehashing of points other authors have made. I also feel the balance between anecdotal and data/research leans too far toward anecdotal. Like the others, I did find the parts about the handling of covid interesting. I also found the parts about interrupting interesting. 2y
35 likes8 comments
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LitsyEvents
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Repost for @Riveted_Reader_Melissa:

The schedule for #SheSaid. Sorry for the very late posting.

Original post:
https://www.litsy.com/web/post/2556737

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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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The schedule for #SheSaid. Sorry for the very late posting.

32 likes3 comments
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Riveted_Reader_Melissa
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Up next for March #SheSaid.

Put in your library holds and interlibrary loans.

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Bookwormjillk Yay! My library has this one! 2y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa The audiobook is on Hoopla 2y
TheKidUpstairs I just grabbed the audio from hoopla. Not usually an audio reader, but I'm going to try! Listened to the intro and I like her voice, so hopefully that helps 🤣 2y
KathyWheeler My library has this as an ebook and an audiobook. I think I might get both and switch it up. 2y
vlwelser Is there a schedule or are we skipping Sunday? 2y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @vlwelser It‘s up now, I just posted it. Thank you for the nudge and I‘m sorry it‘s so late. 2y
vlwelser It's fine. You know I like to plan. 2y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa @vlwelser You do, so do I… just had some unexpected interruptions this week and got behind. Thank you for reminding me. 2y
vlwelser I have a spreadsheet going with my reading listed out. It's obnoxious. 2y
32 likes12 comments