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

When we imagine a leader, we imagine a man. This is an unconscious bias that results from living in a world that continuously tells us - in overt and more subtle ways - that men are more authoritative (powerful, capable, etc...) than women. We take a man for his word, while needing her to explain herself. We mistake his confidence for competence, while mistaking her lack of confidence for incompetence. Written with words like 'mansplain', 'manderestimate', 'mandermine' and conversational 'manspreading', there seems to be no end to the ways women's authority is undermined. But, as Mary Ann points out, it is not just men that do this! Women also have these unconscious biases, even against our own gender. The consequences of the authority gap are detrimental - on women, men and society as a whole. Mary Ann calls it "the mother of all gender gaps", but also offers a realistic roadmap for what we can do about it. The book is well-researched with a strong evidence-base and interviews with some of the most authoritative women in the world - like Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard - who, sadly, still experience it!