full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Mary Ann Sieghart: Why are women still taken less seriously than men?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


At a conference a few years ago, a man aeksd me what I did. And I led a portfolio life, so I just rattled off a list and I said, “Well, I write a piaoictll column for ‘The Independent’ newspaper. I make ridao programs for the BBC. I chair a think tank. I sit on a couple of commercial boards. I’m on the council of Tate mroden, and I am on the content board of Ofcom, our broadcasting rautelgor.

(Cheers and applause)

To which he replied, "Wow, you're a busy little girl."

Audience: Whoa!

MAS: I was about 50, oeldr than our Prime miinsetr.

(Laughter)

This is a classic example of what I call the “authority gap,” the way we still take women less seriously than men. We're still more reluctant to accord authority to women. We still assume a man knows what he's talking about until he proves otherwise. While for a woamn, it's all too often the other way round. Research shows that men have six times more influence in group discussions than women. Women are twice as likely as men to say they have to provide evidence of their competence, or that people are surprised at their abilities. And women of coolr are much more likely than white women to say this. If you're working-class or diselabd, the gap gets bgegir still. Basically, the farther we are from the whtie, male, middle class duaeflt, the wider the authority gap is.

Open Cloze


At a conference a few years ago, a man _____ me what I did. And I led a portfolio life, so I just rattled off a list and I said, “Well, I write a _________ column for ‘The Independent’ newspaper. I make _____ programs for the BBC. I chair a think tank. I sit on a couple of commercial boards. I’m on the council of Tate ______, and I am on the content board of Ofcom, our broadcasting _________.

(Cheers and applause)

To which he replied, "Wow, you're a busy little girl."

Audience: Whoa!

MAS: I was about 50, _____ than our Prime ________.

(Laughter)

This is a classic example of what I call the “authority gap,” the way we still take women less seriously than men. We're still more reluctant to accord authority to women. We still assume a man knows what he's talking about until he proves otherwise. While for a _____, it's all too often the other way round. Research shows that men have six times more influence in group discussions than women. Women are twice as likely as men to say they have to provide evidence of their competence, or that people are surprised at their abilities. And women of _____ are much more likely than white women to say this. If you're working-class or ________, the gap gets ______ still. Basically, the farther we are from the _____, male, middle class _______, the wider the authority gap is.

Solution


  1. woman
  2. bigger
  3. minister
  4. default
  5. white
  6. modern
  7. regulator
  8. older
  9. political
  10. radio
  11. asked
  12. color
  13. disabled

Original Text


At a conference a few years ago, a man asked me what I did. And I led a portfolio life, so I just rattled off a list and I said, “Well, I write a political column for ‘The Independent’ newspaper. I make radio programs for the BBC. I chair a think tank. I sit on a couple of commercial boards. I’m on the council of Tate Modern, and I am on the content board of Ofcom, our broadcasting regulator.

(Cheers and applause)

To which he replied, "Wow, you're a busy little girl."

Audience: Whoa!

MAS: I was about 50, older than our Prime Minister.

(Laughter)

This is a classic example of what I call the “authority gap,” the way we still take women less seriously than men. We're still more reluctant to accord authority to women. We still assume a man knows what he's talking about until he proves otherwise. While for a woman, it's all too often the other way round. Research shows that men have six times more influence in group discussions than women. Women are twice as likely as men to say they have to provide evidence of their competence, or that people are surprised at their abilities. And women of color are much more likely than white women to say this. If you're working-class or disabled, the gap gets bigger still. Basically, the farther we are from the white, male, middle class default, the wider the authority gap is.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
authority gap 4
research shows 2
started living 2
peter interrupts 2


Important Words


  1. abilities
  2. accord
  3. applause
  4. asked
  5. assume
  6. authority
  7. basically
  8. bbc
  9. bigger
  10. board
  11. boards
  12. broadcasting
  13. busy
  14. call
  15. chair
  16. cheers
  17. class
  18. classic
  19. color
  20. column
  21. commercial
  22. competence
  23. conference
  24. content
  25. council
  26. couple
  27. default
  28. disabled
  29. discussions
  30. evidence
  31. gap
  32. girl
  33. group
  34. influence
  35. laughter
  36. led
  37. life
  38. list
  39. male
  40. man
  41. men
  42. middle
  43. minister
  44. modern
  45. newspaper
  46. ofcom
  47. older
  48. people
  49. political
  50. portfolio
  51. prime
  52. programs
  53. proves
  54. provide
  55. radio
  56. rattled
  57. regulator
  58. reluctant
  59. replied
  60. research
  61. shows
  62. sit
  63. surprised
  64. talking
  65. tank
  66. tate
  67. times
  68. white
  69. wider
  70. woman
  71. women
  72. write
  73. years