The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About It

In this debut, journalist Sieghart shows how professional-managerial women face gender bias today; even those who are highly qualified and skilled and excel in their careers are often talked over by male colleagues at meetings, overlooked, underestimated, or patronized. Sieghart contends that this results from an authority gap between men and women and examines how gender bias works in various disciplines, including psychology, sociology, and business. In addition to presenting research on gender bias, the author conducts interviews with women who work in fields like academia and politics, which work as case studies of experiences of gender bias. Sieghart’s interview subjects include Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo; Anne Mulcahy, CEO of Xerox; Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy; Frances Morris, director of the Tate Modern museum; and Julia Gillard, former prime minister of Australia. Sieghart takes particular care to interview trans men and women about their experiences and how they were treated at work after transitioning. Sieghart argues that the first step in changing corporate culture is to admit that the authority gap exists.