Women in leadership are facing a quiet crisis: not just being overlooked, but being actively disbelieved.

We walk into rooms with experience and expertise, and still find our authority questioned by senior leaders, peers, and sometimes by the very people we lead. The cost isn’t just personal. It’s cumulative. Slower promotions. Muted influence. A relentless climb just to be seen as legitimate leaders.

It’s a pattern many of us recognize, but rarely see named with the clarity and urgency it deserves. That’s why this month, we’re reading The Authority Gap by Mary Ann Sieghart. It’s a sharp, deeply reported analysis of why women are still perceived as less credible than men and what it takes to change that.