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August 2021

Captivating account of how sexism is still rife

Review in The Irish Independent by Frieda Klotz

Back in 2003, Mary McAleese had a meeting with Pope John Paul II as part of an official visit to the Vatican.

They were about to be introduced when the Pope stretched out his hand to her husband Martin, asking: “Would you not prefer to be President of Ireland rather than married to the President of Ireland?” McAleese reached out and shook the Pope’s hand as it hovered in the air. “I am the President of Ireland… elected by the people of Ireland, whether you like it or whether you don’t.”

This is one of dozens of revealing tales to emerge from Mary Ann Sieghart’s The Authority Gap, which probes why women are taken less seriously than men. The book is enormously authoritative, knitting together academic studies with interviews of leading public figures.

Read full review here

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By Mary Ann Sieghart

Mary Ann Sieghart is author of the best-selling book, The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About it and Founding Partner of The Authority Gap Consultancy. She 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, Fallout 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 chaired the Social Market Foundation think tank, is a Visiting Professor at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, and sits on numerous boards. She was Chair of the judges for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022.

 Read Bio

Recent Posts

March 2024
PM on BBC Radio 4
March 2024
The New Statesman podcast
January 2024
Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio 4

About the author

Journalist, author, public speaker, consultant, non-executive director, broadcaster

Mary Ann Sieghart is author of the best-selling book, The Authority Gap: Why Women Are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and What We Can Do About it and Founding Partner of The Authority Gap Consultancy. She 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, Fallout 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 chaired the Social Market Foundation think tank, is a Visiting Professor at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London, and sits on numerous boards. She was Chair of the judges for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2022.

Read Biography

Mary Ann Sieghart