the state we’re in
vicky pryce
The XX Factor The Authority Gap: Why Women are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men,
and What We Can Do About It
By Mary Ann Sieghart
(Doubleday 384pp £16.99)
How hard is it being a woman in the workplace? The answer is very, as Mary Ann Sieghart in this eminently readable book convincingly tells us. It seems to require a good deal of acting talent. It’s no use just following advice to behave like a man – something that itself requires quite a lot of effort. It is much more complicated than that. Women have to combine ‘confidence and warmth in exactly the right ratio for them to be taken seriously but not disliked in the process’. Not everyone manages that or can be bothered to keep it up for long, and many women opt out of the race altogether. Yet it is crucial for getting on, as the perceptions of what is acceptable in women’s behaviour are coloured by what is generally expected of them: to be soft and obedient. And what’s more, as research cited by Sieghart shows, many people still expect women to be less expert than men and resist the idea of women having authority.
The adjectives generally used to describe successful and confident women tell their own story: ‘bossy’, ‘abrasive’, ‘strident’, ‘shrill’, ‘scary’, ‘cold’, ‘stern’, ‘controlling’, ‘ball-breaking’, ‘bitchy’, ‘unlikeable’, ‘pushy’. Women who are ambitious are often encouraged to try and hide it. For many, however, ambition is taken out of them at quite a young age, as they encounter their first biases at school and in the early years in work. Mothers, those from an ethnic minority and the disabled face additional biases.
Not being taken seriously means that women don’t contribute as much to the economy as they should do and don’t get paid enough. This in turn means that overall prosperity suffers. Sieghart makes the case simply but strongly and comes up with great solutions, which include quotas and heavily subsidised child- care, both of which I favour. Yes, much of that has been said before. But the devastating extra element Sieghart draws out of the numerous discussions she has had with high-achieving women is that even if a woman miraculously rises to the top, the authority gap remains.
It’s a common enough experience for women starting out not to be treated by men as professional equals. It happened to me when, dressed in my best dark suit, I went to join a directors’ lunch at the bank at which I was working. As I got out of the lift on the executive floor, someone approached me and asked, ‘Are you looking for the kitchens?’ But Sieghart argues that it doesn’t seem to get much better as you rise up. The book starts with the tale of Mary McAleese, president of Ireland from 1997 to 2011, leading an official delegation to the Vatican. Pope John Paul II walked over to where she was standing with an outstretched hand, but approached not her but her husband and asked, ‘Would you not prefer to be President of Ireland rather than married to the President of Ireland?’ McAleese interjected, took his outstretched hand and said, ‘Let me introduce myself. I am the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, elected by the people of Ireland, whether you like it or whether you don’t.’
That was back in 1999. But in recent months we have seen another example of this. In April, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, was at an official meeting in Turkey with President Erdoğan and Charles Michel, the president of the European Council. There were only two chairs in the room and these were offered to and taken by the two men. Von der Leyen was left standing and eventually had to find a seat on a side sofa, away from the centre of attention. The video of the snub went viral on social media. Von der Leyen later made an impassioned speech in the European Parliament venting her frustration and shock. She made it clear that she could not think of a reason for her treatment other than that she was female.
If that can happen to von der Leyen, and on camera, it must be happening to women all over the world, and probably much of the time. Von der Leyen’s treatment is proof that the authority gap remains very real, whatever one’s seniority. This book contains some very depressing quotes from senior women, including one from the female mayor of Washington, DC, who says, ‘People don’t like women promoting themselves.’ It is of course made worse when race or religion is added into the equation. A senior African-American academic is quoted as saying that she is challenged more by her students than an equivalent white male would be and is often
ignored and made to feel invisible in faculty meetings. Impostor syndrome, which often afflicts professional women, seems to stay with them all the way to the top, with women needing to do their homework more assiduously than men do to boost their confidence. Christine Lagarde and Angela Merkel have both said that they overprepare in advance of meetings. And there is no limit to women’s inventiveness in the search for ways to boost their confidence, even at the top. A quote from the first ever female bishop of London says it all: ‘if it’s a tough meeting, I’ll wear red lipstick.’
july 2021 | Literary Review 37
