Best of Multimedia: A Lesson Women Can Learn from Men
Journalists Katty Kay and Claire Shipman explain why self-doubt hurts the career paths of women.
In the Atlantic’s recent cover story, “The Confidence Gap,” Katty Kay and Claire Shipman argued that women struggle with self-doubt more than their male counterparts do—ultimately holding them back in the workplace. The piece fueled strong opinions: Christiane Amanpour slammed it at a recent awards ceremony and the Huffington Post developed an entire blog series devoted to opining on it.
In this related video interview (somewhat misleadingly titled “Why Do Men Assume They’re So Great?”), the terrific Hanna Rosin further prods the authors on why they believe women are more prone to self-doubt than men. One of the most interesting numerical nuggets from the interview: Women look at a job description and think, “Have I got 100 percent of the qualifications for this job?” Men look at that same description and think, “I only need 60 percent of those skills.”
I believe that deeper issues are holding women back in the workplace, but this clip is nonetheless a thought-provoking contribution to the ongoing discussion on women breaking the glass ceiling.
