Chess campion Nona Gaprindashvili (right) plays a game of giant chess against Swedish chess figure … [+]
Bettmann Archive
Last Thursday, Nona Gaprindashvili filed a lawsuit against Netflix seeking millions of dollars for being misrepresented in the popular Netflix series, “The Queen’s Gambit.” Gaprindashvili, a real-life chess champion, currently 80 years old, claims the reference to her in the Netflix series was a “devastating falsehood, undermining and degrading her accomplishments before an audience of many millions.” What happened to Gaprindashvili can be referred to as sidelining, and it happens to women in workplaces all the time.
In the final episode of “The Queen’s Gambit,” the fictional series heroine Elizabeth (Beth) Harmon is competing in a chess tournament in Moscow, and an announcer calling the match describes how Harmon’s competitors perceive her, “Elizabeth Harmon’s not at all an important player by their standards. The only unusual thing about her, really, is her sex. And even that’s not unique in Russia. There’s Nona Gaprindashvili, but she’s the female world champion and has never faced men.”
Only, in real life, Nona Gaprindashvili did compete against men, and it seems Netflix likely knew. A New York Times headline from 1968 touts that “Gaprindashvili Beats 7 Men in a Strong Tourney,” and she once even played 28 men simultaneously. Gaprindashvili’s lawsuit describes, “Throughout her extraordinary career, she won many championships, beat some of the best male chess players in the world and was the first woman in history to achieve the status of international chess grandmaster among men.”
Netflix’s consultants on the show, former world champion Garry Kasparov and American national master Bruce Pandolfini would have known about Gaprindashvili’s competitions with men, according to Gaprindashvili’s complaint. Netflix told the New York Times that it greatly respected Gaprindashvili, but it believed her claim was without merit.
What Is Gender Sidelining?
This minimization of Gaprindashvili’s accomplishments is an example of sidelining, and it happens every day to women everywhere. “In all sorts of workplaces, women frequently feel brushed to the side: Their ideas are undermined, their efforts are upstaged, and their contributions are ignored,” writes Jessica Fink, a law professor at the California Western School of Law in a paper on gender sidelining. “Female workers frequently confront media portrayals or public perceptions that belittle or minimize their contributions,” she adds.
Fink says, “Examples of gender sidelining include women finding their ideas ‘bro-priated’ by their male peers, or women finding themselves more frequently interrupted by their male colleagues. It can involve using less respectful language to portray women in the public eye or judging female workers by a harsher standard than their male peers.” She adds that mischaracterizing someone’s professional accomplishments, as alleged by Gaprindashvili, certainly could be considered sidelining.
Gaprindashvili’s complaint argues that Netflix characterized the comment about her as “innocuous.” “These sorts of sidelining incidents are not innocuous at all,” Fink says, and she points out the many potential ramifications. For example, research suggests recognition for accomplishments is a big motivator. “The extent to which women’s efforts and accomplishments are (or are not) recognized in the workplace can create a self-fulfilling prophecy, either reinforcing achievement or worthlessness. Women who repeatedly are praised and recognized in the workplace will be motivated to try even harder, while women who feel overlooked and ignored may see their drive and ambition diminish,” Fink describes. Other female chess players who witness the slight against Gaprindashvili may get discouraged and think it’s not worth trying because they believe their achievements may be similarly discounted or overlooked.
The Netflix slight could also have some direct ramifications for Gaprindashvili’s continuing chess career. Although only one line in the Netflix series referenced Gaprindashvili, it was heard by millions. (“The Queen’s Gambit” was viewed in more than 62 million households in its first month alone.) Gaprindashvili is still participating in chess-related events, and as a result of this slight, she could lose some of these opportunities. In addition, Fink points out, “if we erase some of her achievements, then she may lose some of the expertise and esteem that she otherwise would garner within her field.”
How To Quash Gender Sidelining At Work
So, what should a woman do if confronted with sidelining in the workplace? Fink recommends calling it out. Since sidelining can be subtle, she says, “the first step in countering sidelining is raising awareness.” She suggests implementing a strategy employed by Obama’s female staffers called amplification. Female colleagues in meetings can make an effort to repeat or amplify each other’s ideas, emphasizing credit to the original female speaker. For example, reiterating, “As Jane just mentioned…” or “Consistent with Jane’s suggestion” makes it more difficult for others to take credit for Jane’s idea. Having more women at the top levels of management also helps to quash gender sidelining at work.
Despite the fact that sidelining can be an issue for women at work, many individual instances of sidelining are not egregious enough to be actionable under the law. As for the merits of the case against Netflix, we have only heard one side of the story in Gaprindashvili’s complaint. Nonetheless, it seems Netflix’s error regarding Gaprindashvili is made even more egregious by the fact that the whole point of the series was to highlight the skills of a successful fictional woman in the male-dominated sport of chess. As summed up in the complaint, “In a story that was supposed to inspire women by showing a young woman competing with men at the highest levels of world chess, Netflix humiliated one real woman trailblazer who had actually faced and defeated men on the world stage in the same era.”
