How to Close the Authority Gap | Mary Ann Sieghart | TED

Women are routinely underestimated, overlooked, interrupted, talked over or mistaken for someone more junior at the workplace. Author Mary Ann Sieghart calls this the "authority gap" - all the ways women are (still) taken less seriously than men, despite proven competence and expertise. She explains how we can close this pernicious gap and why everyone wins when we do so.
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[@Runner466]

“Men are assumed to be competent until they prove otherwise, women are assumed to be incompetent until they prove otherwise.” Yes! Exactly! After 15 years working as a woman engineer I have seen this exact thing more times than I can count. I am rarely taken seriously. I am often ignored, talked over, interrupted. I’ve been passed up for a promotion despite the fact I was obviously the most qualified for the position. I’ve been “laid off” three times now because I am a woman. I am sick of the constant belittlement. It’s gets so very tiring always having to prove I’m right, always having to fight.

[@th3gughy]

One of the best lesson in life I've ever heard. This is so important, fundamental even, for everyone's everyday life that it's hard to understand how this isn't yet normal. Thank you!

[@mistressfreezepeach]

Sad manipulated man.

[@mistressfreezepeach]

@@th3gughy you're saying that just to upset me and tell me what I say doesn't matter, basically. That is the definition of a troll. Muting you now.

[@vikramadityasolanki3999]

What are trying to say ? Be little bit more specific and articulate so that when you intend to share your thoughts, any sane individual could understand it.

[@michelleburack9217]

I think it is important to highlight that this authority gap is in the *public sphere*. This is all a legacy of “separate spheres doctrine”. Think about it: There is an equal and opposite authority gap in the domestic sphere, where we culturally expect men to lack competence with child rearing and other caring roles. I agree with everything she says about what I have long called the “legitimacy gap” of women in the workplace, but we have equal work to do cultivating men’s competence and legitimacy in the domestic sphere. Only then will we truly be able to fly with both wings. (Because women’s full participation in the public sphere will require full participation by men in the domestic sphere.

[@englishguy9680]

I appreciate the sentiment but its no necessarily true that work in the two spheres ought to be evenly distributed. What is behind the motivation to equalise the genders in both spheres?

[@adilakbar3053]

Thank you for this wonderful talk

[@vangnguyen8420]

From Vietnam with love

[@KaMiQa16]

AMAZING talk

[@DS-pe8tt]

Thank you for addressing this. I still deal with sexism and the gender gap. Some things have changed, but others have not at all.

[@mastergamez4297]

Propaganda

[@englishguy9680]

Can anybody link the studies she is citing, ive tried and can’t find them?

[@resonateproductions-musica6834]

It is all in her book : the Authority Gap

[@akbiplobss]

❤❤❤

[@mariaantoniettamontella9173]

bravissima

[@alihata9951]

Fico imaginando Camille Paglia assistindo essa palestra...🤔🤔🤔

[@minhhuongbui0405]

Great. Thanks madam

[@rohith7089]

❤❤

[@ronoldcross8189]

I had men and women as seniors at work, civilian and military, throughout my working life. On both sides of the "Great Divide", I had excellent, competent, and questionable bosses or seniors.

[@jeffmilligan]

While TED Talks has a thing called TED Talks Women, but no TED Talks Men. Says it all.

[@alanawinter23]

💯❤️❤️❤️

[@jeffmilligan]

And what about when there are very few female experts in a particular field? : "the BBC has recently made a push to have a 50% female experts on air"

[@premapoojitanananda7947]

🌟 I can see at least one benefit for closing the authority gap is everyone having greater integrity 🌸

[@RalphNeukirchen]

wow! fantastic TEDTalk! Thanks a lot Prof. Sieghart. I would like to quote a review of her book because as Husband and father I feel exactly the same: “I knew some of what Sieghart wrote about but not all - that was sad on my part ! The really good part was at the end that told me clearly I can actually do something right away towards misogyny, sexism and unconscious bias.”

[@chideraaugusta1799]

*LAWLESSNESS*

[@user-fp6oo3um6f]

🎉

[@jurjenbos228]

From my experience, women are better managers. I know that is sexist, but I will persist, just to give some counterweight.

[@G0LIRA]

0:06 Why would you read your résumé for such a simple question in the first place? Maybe that’s why he was mean, nobody likes a know-it-all, be it a woman or a man…

[@Molly_1123]

LOL, I’ve been defending this video, but you make a good point!

[@socladriana]

the point of her doing that is tied to how it relates to the content of the talk itself... and the reactions you have just shown. you are validating her point and you don't even know!

[@jeffmilligan]

In other words, it makes a man 79 times less likely to get a job he deserves. : "adding just one more women to the short list, makes makes the odds of hiring a woman 79 times greater"

[@mistressfreezepeach]

Close the empathy gap and the accountability gap are the obvious solutions.

[@mistressfreezepeach]

for the feminists here: that means giving men any empathy and women finally accountability

[@mistressfreezepeach]

for the feminists here: that means men are human, women are adults.

[@mistressfreezepeach]

@@Molly_1123 yet you believe fem. myths and fabricated stats with them not even pretending to be objective

[@englishguy9680]

I agree but good luck with that one 😅

[@bobabyisjustsoazy]

🖤💙

[@Laralinda]

My boss says that he doesn't have such biases. Everything okay then, I guess? We need to tackle these problems on a structural level, not a personal one.

[@Molly_1123]

Well that is certainly possible, and I certainly hope that is true. It’s also possible that this is a blind-spot or that he is uncomfortable acknowledging, even to himself, his bias. Social injustice needs to be addressed at the individual and systemic levels, imo.

[@jeffmilligan]

Maybe ask Norah Vincent what it was like to live as a man.

[@RISCGames]

“We still assume a man knows what he talks about, until he proves otherwise…” *crowd laughing* unreal this is the level of cringe we have to continue dealing with just to sell propaganda books. What an accomplishment. Thankfully there are actually a ton of female leaders who are amazing and don’t need or lead by these unfortunate examples.

[@louisrajaona5939]

Sending strengths to all women around the world, especially to black, brown and dark skinned women 💪🏾💪🏾

[@mbergamin16]

Sad

[@user-be8wz3hw3b]

I wouldn't take a man seriously either of they had a really high voice

[@user-be8wz3hw3b]

*If

[@user-be8wz3hw3b]

I think the amount of female experts on air should be proportional to the amount of female experts when compared to male experts

[@SoniaGlog]

Mmm.. so you mean 50% then. Bell curve distribution applies to both male and female.

[@ekeneleonardnwobodo5795]

First comment maybe 😊

[@hamsterclamper]

Get a life🙄

[@ekeneleonardnwobodo5795]

@@hamsterclamper who cares man? YOLO

[@michelefisher5171]

I don’t get what this means.

[@Billabonggg2011]

"Authority" in this talk most fittingly means expertise. When women are experts in a field they are more frequently treated as being incompetent than men in comparable positions (solely for the fact that they are women).

[@conspiracytherapist2473]

Ummmmm, the average mental age of HUMANITY is 12-14 years old. I would think you might want to fix that instead stepping into that patriarchal adolescent cycle VICTOR HUGO told us about.

[@richarddrapeau7599]

Also get devorced more often.... seems like someone is playing with the number. ( probably both side's) Also if you are an honest person why are you not judging their ideas and evidence. Seems like the problem may not be sexism but a lack honesty and integrity.

[@OneaeBlack]

If ya gotta watch twice listen and learn something don't be dumb please.

[@mbergamin16]

No thanks

[@OneaeBlack]

@@mbergamin16 Grow UP?

[@mbergamin16]

@@OneaeBlack That's your response to "No Thanks" 🤦‍♂️😂 take your own advice

[@OneaeBlack]

@@mbergamin16 Wise Up?

[@mbergamin16]

@@OneaeBlack You could take that advice also, yes. Don't assume anyone needs to watch this video more than once to attain some sort of hidden wisdom. It isn't there, this conversation was not that deep, or very useful; and having said opinion doesn't make me or anyone else "dumb" 🤦‍♂️

[@lewiswege160]

Women...

[@tatiana2396]

Men...

[@saranebeel9032]

boy ☕

[@folee_edge]

There are definitely downsides in certain circumstances for both sexes - I think you're focused on being a woman in a man's world. Imagine if you spoke to fathers with the main childcare role, or in a career dominated by women.

[@mistressfreezepeach]

It's not a men's world and hasn't been for a while, the stats are very clear on this, at leadt for the first /western world

[@folee_edge]

@@mistressfreezepeach agreed

[@jairivasmen]

I dont know what she is talking about

[@mistressfreezepeach]

Society still isn't gynocentric enough, because men exist, basically.

[@gollossalkitty]

Maybe it's like communism? In the literal sense, not its connotations. PotFriend

[@ArtArtisian]

She seems to give a lot of examples. Did you understand those?

[@skittlez8094]

Bud you have a long way to go

[@lewiswege160]

Same thing

[@Molly_1123]

Show me the peer-reviewed research that proves she’s wrong (ie this disparity is not still an issue).

[@LegendLength]

You don't get promoted in that field by producing right-leaning results politically

[@JSLoiro]

Seems that your reality is different than mine... I so happy to live with mine

[@socladriana]

oh you mean you are happy to be granted an unearned privilege at the expense of other people being unfairly treated? sad

[@karenreddy]

It makes sense though. The brain is constantly looking for ways to optimize and extrapolate in a world with little knowledge. Given that FAR more men have built this world than women it's not super surprising a bias has formed. It is often true that women achieve less than men, though a few women do achive a lot, and often a lot more than the average men. Those few who do achieve considerably more than the average will sense this powerful bias formed over millennia working against them. Poorly dressed men are also discriminated against, as are men of color. The entire world is constantly trying to make sense of everything and predict what's ahead with little information available.

[@DragonYang01]

Why women care about how they look so much? For most of women, their confidence starts with their appearance. They spend substantial hours/effort on look every single day in their lives. If you have 5% less productive hours every single day than men statistically, would you think, statistically, women would achieve less than men? This accumulative effect over thousands of human history has built in in our language, instants, and preferences. To close the authority gap is pointless because it is not even desirable to a majority of women who prefer not to fight a war with guns in their hands, do labors with their arms, or sacrifice their lives first when in danger.substanteous

[@Zactastical]

Mary would be taken a lot more seriously if she wasn't so condescending... And that has nothing to do with her gender.

[@meanderinoranges]

You want people to take you seriously? Then don't be a dumb dumb. You have to EARN credibility.

[@alfreedfandangle]

This woman's delusional world is scary. The logical fallacies are flying free.

[@christiansoldier1547]

God the Father, made woman from a part of a man. Wo-man means what ? But a woman is very valuable to humanity . To birth and raise the children and to be a help to the man as it's his responsibility to provide for the family. That's the way God intended it to be.

[@CushRayman]

Absolutely.

[@mistressfreezepeach]

All societies have been gynocentric for these reasons, basically because we are social mammals. None of those basic truths are considered in feminism

[@christiansoldier1547]

@@Molly_1123 The last supper with instructions for the bread and the wine before his ascension was with who ? Jesus's most loved disciple was Mary Magdalene, the others admitted it. And many women throughout the bible were mentioned and God used to fulfill his will. Nobody doubts the usefulness of women. My wife is an awesome women willing to jump right in there when we have to wrestle our bulls down for castration or elastration. Tough woman. Why, I wouldn't trade her for for a creek full of trout on a Sunday afternoon during full hatching of the nymph bugs.

[@chideraaugusta1799]

Thank you 💕

[@maggiebodo]

Appointing a woman is risky 😅 yeah …as they are the most capable and competent ones of achieving difficult targets and goals.

[@thomasel9171]

You genuinely believe that? Appointing positions based on gender?

[@RISCGames]

Anyone who thinks like this isn’t a leader.

[@mistressfreezepeach]

Like those at the top of the MIC and the Blob, those that brought us as close to ww3 as never before?

[@user-ew8xj5pg7y]

God loves you and takes care of you so that this message reaches you. God is the one who created this great universe and has complete control over it. And the greatest loss that a person loses in this life is that he lives while he does not know God who created him, knowing the Messenger of Muhammad, the last of the messengers, and the Islamic religion, the last of the heavenly religions. The great intelligence, before you believe in something or not, is to read it, study it, and understand it well, and then you have the choice to believe in it or not. I advise you on this now before you do not have time to do that.

[@conspiracytherapist2473]

I’ve heard this prophet you speak married a 6 year old girl and consummated the marriage when she was 9 years old. Is this true?

[@silentsnipe260]

The dude married a 7 year old and he's your "Messenger". Says a lot about you.

[@conspiracytherapist2473]

@@silentsnipe260this might be new information for many people. I avoid mocking folks, it can trigger their extremism.