The Authority Gap

The Authority Gap

Why women are still taken less seriously than men, and what we can do about it

Summary

*A WATERSTONES 'BEST POLITICAL BOOK OF THE YEAR'*
*A TIMES 'BEST PHILOSOPHY AND IDEAS' BOOK OF 2021*
*A GUARDIAN 'BEST POLITICS BOOKS OF THE YEAR'*
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2022 BUSINESS BOOK AWARD

'A brilliant manifesto explaining why women are still so underestimated and overlooked in today's world, but how we can also be hopeful for change' - Philippa Perry

'An impassioned, meticulously argued and optimistic call to arms for anyone who cares about creating a fairer society' - Observer
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Imagine living in a world in which you were routinely patronised by women.

Imagine having your views ignored or your expertise frequently challenged by them.

Imagine people always addressing the woman you are with before you.

Now imagine a world in which the reverse of this is true.

The Authority Gap provides a startling perspective on the unseen bias at work in our everyday lives, to reveal the scale of the gap that still persists between men and women. Would you believe that US Supreme Court Justices are interrupted four times more often than male ones... 96% of the time by men? Or that British parents, when asked to estimate their child's IQ will place their son at 115 and their daughter at 107?

Marshalling a wealth of data with precision and insight, and including interviews with pioneering women such as Baroness Hale, Mary Beard and Bernadine Evaristo, Mary Ann exposes unconscious bias in this fresh feminist take on how to address and counteract systemic sexism in ways that benefit us all.

Includes interviews with pioneering women such as:

Baroness Hale
Mary Beard
Bernadine Evaristo
Mary McAleese
Julia Gillard
Dolly Alderton and Pandora Sykes
Cherie Blair
Liz Truss
Amber Rudd
Frances Morris
Laura Bates
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'Hugely exciting' - Emily Maitlis

'Deeply researched, profoundly thoughtful and a book very much for the here and now: Mary Ann Sieghart's The Authority Gap is the book she was probably born to write' - Andrew Marr

'At last here is a credible roadmap that is capable of taking women from the margins to the centre by bridging the authority gap that holds back even the best and most talented of women. - Mary McAleese, Former President of Ireland

Reviews

  • Here is a brilliant manifesto explaining why women are still so underestimated and overlooked in today's world, but how we can also be hopeful for change.
    Philippa Perry

About the author

Mary Ann Sieghart

Mary Ann Sieghart spent 20 years as Assistant Editor and columnist at The Times and won a large following for her columns on politics, economics, feminism, parenthood and life in general. She has presented many programmes on BBC Radio 4, such as Start the Week, Profile, Analysis and One to One. She chaired the revival of The Brains Trust on BBC2 and recently spent a year as a Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. She has also chaired the Social Market Foundation think tank, sits on numerous boards, and is currently a Visiting Professor at King's College London.
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