Analysis: the overarching theme in online commentary seems to be that men are delusional and women have the good sense to know better

Apparently, one in eight men think, that if they were playing their very best tennis, they could win a point against Serena Williams. Women, overall, appear to be more grounded in reality. Still, let the men at it. We could all use a good laugh. Bobby Riggs tried it once with Billie Jean King and he, at least was an actual professional. 

Of the 1,732 adults in Great Britain surveyed by YouGov, 12% of men said they reckoned they could steal a single point from the athlete who won her 23rd Grand Slam singles title while pregnant. The woman who John McEnroe recently described as "extremely intimidating" because, despite having won so many times, she doesn't seem to want it any less. By comparison, only 3% of women felt they would be up for it. A further 14% of men and 10% of women "didn’t know" if they could do it, so overall, it turns out a lot of us can conjure up a modicum of confidence when we need to.

The overarching theme in commentary online seems to be that men are delusional and women have the good sense to know better. The only reasonable answer to the question, from most people's point of view, is of course "absolutely not" but there are some who could (maybe) win a point against the world’s ninth best women’s tennis player. Like, say, the eight people ranked above her. The interesting question is why there’s such a gap in the responses between men and women. 

Dr Mary Kinahan, organisational psychologist and lecturer in Human Resource Management at Technical University Dublin, says there is a lot of evidence that women often underrate themselves and it’s not just about confidence, it’s "a complicated thing." For example, studies have shown that when people are asked to estimate their IQ, men typically overestimate while women underestimate, Kinahan says.

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It’s not as simple as "women are just not confident. It’s a lot more than that. We often think it’s down to women being socialised into certain stereotypes - men are as well. Oftentimes, women struggle with owning their own success or being confident or even saying they’re confident, because this can be seen as quite an arrogant thing to do." Both men and women internalise stereotypes to different degrees, "the scary thing is," Kinahan says, "it’s not that men only see women a certain way. The research shows, both sexes have this idea that women should be demure, should be this, should be that, and that’s when it becomes internalised to a certain extent."

An oft-cited report from Hewlett Packard found that women will only apply for a job if they meet 100% of the qualifications, while men will apply if they meet 60%. "We see this in different ways in the workplace," Kinahan believes. "In general, if something good happens, women will say it’s a group effort or it’s down to luck, whereas if there’s a failure or something goes wrong, they will step up and say it was their fault and it might not necessarily be. They’d be more inclined to believe it is."

When people are asked to estimate their IQ, studies show men typically overestimate, while women underestimate

It’s noticeable in the way we speak as well. "If they are asking someone to do something, women will be more likely to ask it more as a question than an order - we will typically put things in as qualifiers," she says. We learn those gendered patterns of behaviour early on. Kinahan mentions a study which showed that differences in behaviour, which weren’t present when the children were two or three, were coming through by five or six. 

Kinahan says the YouGov poll "tapped into something," but the more interesting side of it, is what it might tell us about our reactions to female athletes. "Women who are very successful in a male dominated field can often face a lot of flack for it," she says. "You can see it with (professional US football player) Megan Rapinoe as well. Now I’m not a sports psychologist, but she’s acting in a way that would be very similar to male champions - she’s celebrating a win, but if that was a man, I don’t think there would be as much backlash against it. Serena Williams has faced similar questions about her femininity." 

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Research has shown that when given identical CVs, where the only difference is the name, people prefer the male candidate, Kinahan says. "Women leaders are seen as competent but they're liked a lot less than their identical male… They say it’s a double bind, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Women are trying to prove that they can do the job as good as a man, but they can’t say 'OK, I’m going to be like a man.’ Women leaders are constantly negotiating that path. Where they are confident but they have to be warm as well."

We’ll never know what was going on in the minds of those who answered the YouGov poll. Would the result have been the same if it was a male player? Say, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer? It’s hard to know if the men (and women) who said they could take a point were overestimating their own ability or underestimating Serena’s. "It’s not a question that provides a very clear answer because of the way they worded it," Kinahan says. "You’d want about three questions backing it up and Andy Murray on the other side of Serena Williams."

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The good news is that in her own research Kinahan can see that things are changing. Young women are "very confident, they’re driven" in a way that "previous generations haven’t been or haven’t really shown… I always think it’s double faceted. It’s what a woman thinks for herself, but also what she fears from society, that can dictate what is acceptable."

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ