Sturgeon says she is shy at heart and that the world would be better run by ‘menopausal women’

Sturgeon has said that the world would be better run by menopausal women.

Speaking on podcast The Shift, Sturgeon said: “I went through periods in life – and still go through periods in life now – where that sense of [ambition] is challenged and I doubt it more.

“I have spoken to a lot of women who feel this, friends and other women who would articulate exactly the same thing here…

“You really have to work so much harder to prove yourself so much more, to be taken probably half as seriously – particularly in the profession I’m in – as your average man.

“It can be tiresome are wearisome that we still have to do that but I’ve come to the conclusion in my life that it’s actually quite a good thing.

“Because you end up being better [than the men], because you work a lot harder and you have to really go so much further to prove yourself and be taken seriously.

“I have to be careful that doesn’t sound like an argument for women always having to struggle more to be taken seriously, because it shouldn’t be like that…

“But when you see women, and I’m not talking about myself here I’m talking about other women in senior positions: by and large, they’re better than their equivalent man and, more often than not, they’ve had to push themselves a lot harder to get to where they are.

“I often think the world would be a much better place if it were ruled by women.

“I guess most women in positions like mine – and there’s not been that many – who have gone through the menopause, the response is they need to work much harder to overcome it to make sure you’re trying not to let it interfere in any way.

“[So] maybe the world would be a much, much better place if it was ruled by menopausal women.”

“I’m an innately shy person, so I suppose I’ve had to overcome that along the way.

“I have always had this inner-confidence, but coupled with an inner-doubt. “There’s always a constant battle between the two, and that is probably true even now.

“I think for many women, no matter how successful or senior they’ve come to be, have that sense of not entirely ever feeling that you’ve earned it or that it’s justified.

“I suppose it’s what is often called the imposter syndrome… I suffer from that, absolutely.

“Partly I think it’s gender, although I know some men suffer from that as well, and partly it’s the working-class background.

“All through my career there’s a sense of almost always waiting to be found out, and that you’re not really good enough to be doing this, that there are better people that could be doing it…

“But, as long as it actually doesn’t completely cripple you and stop you doing the things you want to do, a little bit of that is healthy and, actually, is quite good for you.

“I think of people like Boris Johnson, and I think, ‘My God, a little bit of imposter syndrome would do you the world of good’.

“Because actually it would make you take a step back and think, ‘Maybe I’ve just got to work a bit harder? Maybe I’ve got to prove myself a bit more,’ instead of this gliding through life as if the world owes you a living’.”