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I once sat next to an executive at a conference lunch and chatted with him about the topic of research I do as a communications professor. He immediately began quoting a piece on the subject that he had just read The New York Times – which I had written myself. The possibility that I was the perpetrator did not seem to occur to this man when I told him that my area of expertise was this exact topic.
The problem, of course, is that when people in our society imagine experts, they often think of (white) men.
I heard this complaint endlessly when I interviewed women across the country about their experiences using social media for my new book, Beyond Influence: Why Social Media Is Toxic for Women and Girls and How We Can Take It Back. These women often told me something I’ve experienced myself: When they posted about topics related to their professional experience on social media, their posts got little engagement; yet when men in their fields published the the same thingthey seemed to get a lot of reposts.
Research confirms my findings: When women use social networks to advance their professional careers, they often end up with fewer followers, reposts, and subsequent opportunities than men in their fields. Why? In Title: How male privilege harms women, Cornell philosopher Kate Manne writes that men are often seen as having knowledge in our society. Too often women are simply not seen as experts.
Related: 8 Ways to Empower the Next Generation of Women Leaders
This may help explain why, when people look for a professional – whether they need to hire someone, want to follow people on social media to learn more about a topic, or make an appointment to see a doctor – they so often turn to men. . To overcome this implicit prejudice, it is necessary to give greater visibility to the knowledge of women in our society. If people were constantly reminded of the wisdom and accomplishments of women, sooner or later they would come to see women as experts and would therefore look more to women for their expertise.
We can all help make this happen. Women who are experts in our fields should recognize that the more we share our knowledge publicly – whether it’s giving a talk at the local library or writing an editorial about important work we’re doing – the more we can help reshape these perceptions. Serving as a guest speaker in schools, from elementary schools to graduate classes, is another great way to make our knowledge visible. We should also regularly publish information about our work on social media and highlight its value to society, so that people can see the important contributions we are making.
We can all help by also following more women on social media and sharing women’s posts more. To help us get started, I’ve posted a list of “feminists to follow” on my website. They are a diverse group of women doing amazing things in many different fields. The SheSource database, created by the Women’s Media Center, is also a good resource for finding experienced women in many different fields.
Furthermore, we should try to encourage other women in our professions, for example by nominating them for awards or writing Wikipedia biographies about them, so that their knowledge becomes visible to others outside our fields. A woman I talked about in my book, Jess Wade, created Wikipedia pages for over 1,800 women and minorities working in science and engineering. She told me that simply having a Wikipedia page can be “transformative” for women’s careers, because she allows people to find them when they’re looking for applicants for things like awards and scholarships.
Related: How we can all uplift women and give them a voice in business
Employers also have an important role to play. Companies should book female staff for media interviews and speaking engagements and share their expertise on their official social media channels. They should feature the work women do on their websites and ask women to handle public-facing activities such as earnings calls with investors and congressional testimony.
Employers should also make it easier for women to reach leadership roles, for example by ensuring that people at all levels of their organizations can achieve a work-life balance. As I’ve warned before, the expectation that managers work too hard is one of the biggest factors holding women back in our careers, because many of us need to balance our work with important caregiving responsibilities. They can do this by not expecting executives to be available 24/7 (economist Claudia Goldin’s work demonstrates the value of having professionals like lawyers and accountants take turns to be “on call” for client emergencies ). CEOs should also model the expectation that employees take time off for things like family vacations and children’s sick days by doing so themselves.
Our society’s tendency to look to men for expertise is one of the things that holds women back in our careers. But we can all help bring greater visibility to women’s knowledge and achievements, which will make people of all genders view women as experts and look more to women for expertise.