Life rewards hard work, and those who are willing to work hard will rise to the top, regardless of gatekeepers or anything else.

You're describing a meritocracy, a pervasive, damaging and tightly-held myth in our industry that hides prejudice and discrimination.

This is true for any industry, but is especially true for one like design, where no gatekeeper approval is required for recognition.

This is not true for any industry. If you search for "myth of meritocracy", you'll see this harmful concept is being discussed in comedy and music right now.

I think the link you shared actually proves my point about the subconscious bias we have towards putting/expecting men to be the ones in power - sure, both women and men are equally responsible for perpetuating this way of thinking - but it doesn't matter who's responsible for it, it still exists and it's still the world we're working in. I'm definitely not putting blame on men in general or on anyone - I'm just pointing out that the bias exists and it's something we have to consciously recognise and push against.

I see what you're saying too about how society doesn't teach men to be confident and ambitious, only expects it. But I think people often live up to what's expected of them, and a lot of people will usually follow the path of least resistance in that regard - it's easier to be what people want you to be than to be different. It's just another one of these difficult-to-define speedbumps that lie in women's paths and that most of the time aren't even noticed. I guess it's just an issue of that - theres a couple less speedbumps on some people's roads that just make it that bit easier for them to succeed, and judging by the state of our industry at the moment, those with the least speedbumps at the moment seem to be pretty often male and white.