For as long as I can remember, I have been absolutely terrified of failure. At age five, I would refuse to run in the playground after it had been raining for fear of slipping and falling over in front of everyone. Whilst most young children would risk it, fall and learn not to do it next time, I would never take the initial risk, because letting people see me get something wrong was simply too embarrassing. This self-limiting mindset persisted all through my childhood, teenage years and early adulthood, seeing me pass up opportunities because I wouldn’t be perfect at them first time.

I’m not alone in my fear of failure. It is something many of us share, especially as women in the 21st century as we try to break into what was, not too long ago, a man’s world. One reason we are so quick to shower female leaders with admiration is because so many of us struggle to believe that we too have the capability to reach those kinds of heights. Why is this? Why do we see ability as fixed and not something that can be worked on and improved? Upon searching for answers to these questions, I stumbled upon some research that could explain why self-doubt is so rife amongst women and girls. A study was carried out where mothers were asked to estimate at what incline their babies could crawl and it revealed that they believed their sons could climb a 6 degree steeper incline than their daughters. While some might attribute this bias to physical ability differences between the sexes, the study also revealed a disparity in the kinds of praise parents offer their sons and daughters. 24.4% of the praise offered to young boys is ‘process praise’ which celebrates the child’s efforts, whereas this makes up only 10.3% of the praise received by young girls.

Whilst men and boys, of course, experience self-doubt, they are generally more likely to have a go at things and are much more comfortable making mistakes in the process. The higher level of process praise that they receive could be the reason for this as by the age of seven or eight, boys are much more likely to have a growth mindset than girls who blame their failures on believed inherent incompetence. Although there is certainly an element of subject preference, this low self-esteem could be why many plenty-capable women shy away from domains such as maths and science which require the development of problem-solving skills.

Anyone who has spent five minutes with my dad will know what an economics nerd he is and would probably assume that this would be an area of confidence for me, having been a frequent topic of dinner table conversation my whole life. But alas, I lack knowledge of some pretty basic economic concepts and find myself switching off, almost as a reflex reaction, to the phrase ‘the stock market’. I always thought and still sometimes think that such things are above me, despite having done well at maths in school. There is an explanation for this: data on economic literacy shows that women are more likely to select the ‘do not know’ option when asked economic questions than men but when this option was not provided, they often selected the correct answer. It is sad yet relatable that women hold themselves back from such discourse. Imagine how much stronger these domains could be with diversified insights.

At first saddened by all these findings on the internal bias many of us have against ourselves, I have decided that I am no longer going to limit myself. So this International Women’s Day, I hope you will join me in challenging your (and others’!) self-limiting beliefs. Surround yourself with people that cheer you on, build up your friends and family and, most importantly, go and try that new thing that you’ve always wanted to do but been too scared to.