I once sat next to a senior executive at a conference lunch and talked with him about the research topic I do as a professor of communication. He immediately began quoting a passage about the subject he had just read New York Times – that I had written myself. The possibility that I was the author did not seem to occur to this man when I told him that my area of ​​expertise was this very topic.

The problem, of course, is that when people in our society present experts, they often think about it (white) men..

I heard this complaint over and over when I interviewed women around the country about their experiences using social media for my new book, On the Impact: Why Social Media is Toxic for Women and Girls—and How We Can Turn It Around. These women often told me something I've experienced myself: When they posted on social media about topics related to their professional expertise, their posts had little engagement; however when men in their fields posted about much the samethey seemed to get a lot of reposts.

Research backs up my findings: When women use social media to advance their professional careers, they often end up with less followersrepost and results OppORTuNiTy than men in their fields. Why? IN Titled: How Male Privilege Hurts WomenCornell philosopher Kate Manne write that men are often considered as possessors of knowledge in our society. Too often, women are simply not seen as experts.

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This may help explain why, when people are looking for a professional—whether they need to hire someone, want to follow people on social media to learn more about a topic, or are making an appointment to see a doctor—they often addressed to men. To overcome this implicit bias, women's knowledge must be imparted greater visibility in our society. If people were constantly reminded of women's wisdom and achievements, eventually, they would see women as experts and therefore look to women for their expertise more.

We can all help make this happen. Women who are experts in our fields need to understand that the more we can share our knowledge publicly—whether it's giving a talk at the local library or writing an op-ed about the important work we're doing—the more we can we help reshape these perceptions. Serving as a guest speaker at schools, from elementary schools to graduate classes, is another great way to make our knowledge visible. We also need to regularly post about our work on social media and highlight its value to society so people can see the important contributions we are making.

We can all help too by following more women on social media and sharing more women's posts. To help us get started, I've posted one list of “feminists to follow” in my Web page. They are a diverse group of women doing amazing things in many different fields. Database That Sourcecreated by the Women's Media Center, is also a good resource for finding women experts in many different fields.

Moreover, we must try encourage other women in our professions, such as by nominating them for awards or writing Wikipedia biographies about them, so their knowledge becomes visible to others outside our fields. A woman I profiled in my book, Jess Wade, has created Wikipedia pages for over 1,800 women and minorities working in science and engineering. She told me that just having a Wikipedia page can be “transformative” for women's careers because it allows people to find them when they search for nominees for things like awards and scholarships.

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Employers also have an important role to play. Companies should book female employees for media interviews and speaking engagements and share their expertise on their official social media channels. They should feature the work women are doing on their websites and ask women to engage in public events, such as investor earnings calls and congressional testimony.

Employers also need to make it easier for women to reach them leadership roles, such as ensuring that people at all levels of their organizations can achieve work-life balance. As I have done warned before, the expectation of executives to work hard is one of the main factors holding women back in our careers, because many of us must balance our work with primary caregiving responsibilities. They can do this by not expecting executives to be available 24/7 (work by economist Claudia Goldin demonstrates the value of having professionals such as lawyers and accountants “on call” for client emergencies). CEOs should also model the expectation that employees will 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 make women's knowledge and achievements more visible, which will lead to people of all genders seeing women as experts and turning to women for expertise more.