Closing the Authority Gap: Empowering Girls for a Fair Future

One of the privileges of my role is my annual attendance at the Girls’ School Association Heads’ Conference, which is specifically tailored to those of us lucky enough to be running a girls’ school. We are in a unique position and take the crucial responsibility of preparing the next generation of young women to take their place in the world extremely seriously. Although some of the talk by Mary Ann Sieghart on the pervasive issue of the authority gap for women can seem disheartening, I felt energised by what we in girls’ schools can do to ameliorate this situation for the future. The research she presented shed light on the challenges women face in being taken seriously, but also offered valuable insights for educators and parents to support our young women in overcoming these barriers. 

Sieghart highlighted that society, knowingly or unknowingly, still tends to take men more seriously than women. The assumption that men are competent until proven otherwise, while women are often viewed as incompetent until they prove otherwise, creates an authority gap that extends across various aspects of life.

In professional settings, men have six times more influence in meetings than women, contributing to the underestimation and patronisation of women’s expertise. One critical aspect Sieghart emphasised is the prevalence of interruptions in meetings, which disproportionately target women, actively silencing and humiliating them. Even in the US Supreme Court, female justices are interrupted three times more frequently than their male counterparts, highlighting the need to address this issue in all public settings.

Confidence plays a significant role in perpetuating the authority gap, with boys and men generally being more confident due to upbringing and socialisation, from the playground to the board room. Furthermore, girls in coed schools may receive less attention than boys, who may be rewarded for being confident and self-promoting. Girls, on the other hand, may face social consequences for such behaviour.

Encouraging girls to speak up is crucial in narrowing the authority gap. Educators and parents can instil confidence in girls by fostering an environment where they feel comfortable expressing their opinions. This is something that the students at Bedford Girls’ School experience everyday. However, we also need to encourage them, through the confidence they have developed with us, that if they find themselves being interrupted in their lives beyond school,  that they request to finish their thoughts or indeed demand the acknowledgement they deserve for their ideas.

Role models also play a pivotal role in shaping girls’ aspirations. The importance of showcasing relatable role models cannot be overstated. One example is the character of Dana Scully in The X-Files who had a demonstrable impact on young women of that age group believing they could be a scientist – it is even known as the Scully Effect! We do this on a regular basis at BGS by inviting our alumnae into the school to give talks and act as mentors. 

However, the one area I would really like to focus on is the idea of “brilliance”. From the age of six, girls start to believe that boys are more brilliant than they are. It is often thought that boys do well due to talent and girls due to their hard work. So as teachers and as parents I strongly urge all of us to tell our daughters and students: how talented and brilliant they are; that they don’t always have to get everything right and be perfectly prepared; to be confident in their abilities knowing sometimes they can just “wing it” (boys often do); and to build that inner core of confidence whilst they are with us here at BGS, so they are ready to take on the sometimes less than fair world and demand that their fantastic ideas are listened to. 

This is how we will build a more equitable society and a more positive world. It is well documented that businesses with more gender balanced boards are more successful and research has shown that countries with greater gender equality are more likely to resolve conflicts without violence and are less likely to use military force to resolve international disputes. And what can be more brilliant than that? As the author of one of my all time favourite books said: “The question isn’t who’s going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” (Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead).I hope this is the case for all the students at BGS, bolstered up by the inner confidence we collectively develop within them as they grow up.