Sieghart draws together a remarkable wealth of research (the bibliography alone is 31 pages long) from academic studies and polling data to analyse and deconstruct this pervasive underestimation of women’s competence ... Sieghart’s field of inquiry is broad ... Anticipating the anguish women readers will feel, Sieghart’s final chapter is titled No Need to Despair. Here, she sets out the changes needed at individual, organisational and legislative levels to close the gap – a goal she believes is achievable in one generation if the will is there. Many of these suggestions are things feminists have long campaigned for – better representation; more transparency in the workplace – but some are corrections we can all begin to make ... an impassioned, meticulously argued and optimistic call to arms for anyone who cares about creating a fairer society. Now we just have to get men to read it.
The book is enormously authoritative, knitting together academic studies with interviews of leading public figures ... turns up a raft of disturbing findings ... Sieghart is at her best when writing about politics ... Sieghart writes with empathy, clarity and passion. She admits that when she took a test for bias, even she fell short, and her results showed up preconceptions about men’s and women’s roles. It’s a trap we are all likely to fall into, as society unconsciously shapes our views ... Why is it important to push back against these tendencies? Sieghart’s evidence builds towards a compelling argument for women and men alike.
... punchy and incisive ... Undeterred, Sieghart offers pages of solutions ... Above all, she says, we need to notice our biases 'and make sure that we correct for them in all our interactions'. If that sounds forced and exhausting, it is surely less so than putting up with a lifetime’s condescension.
