When I first told people that I’d got a job at Stylist, two years ago, there was one phrase I found myself using over and over again. A friend or a relative would congratulate me, and I’d smile awkwardly and look at the ground. “Thanks,” I’d say. “But it was just luck, really. I was just in the right place at the right time.”

In a way, this was true. I’d been freelancing at Stylist for months when a staff job became available, and I’m sure management’s decision was influenced by the fact that I was already a familiar face. But when a close friend heard me say “just luck, really” for the umpteenth time, she stepped in. “But it wasn’t just luck, was it?” she said. “You also had to, you know, be good at what you do.”

This was a revelation to me. Until that point, I hadn’t genuinely considered the possibility that I might have been hired simply because I was good. I’d attributed my success to a raft of external factors: my then-editor seemed to like me! The timing was fortuitous! But not once did I think I might be able to take some of the credit myself. I just felt very, very… lucky.

I know I’m not the only woman to dismiss her achievements as being down to dumb luck. In one early study investigating imposter syndrome, researchers noted that female graduate students frequently attributed their high exam scores to luck, and other research has shown that women are more likely than men to cite luck as a reason for their accomplishments. In 2015, data from the analytics company Crimson Hexagon showed that 67% of tweets that used the word “lucky” in the first person – i.e. “I’m so lucky” – were posted by women.

Helen Bownass, Stylist’s entertainment director, has interviewed some of the world’s most famous women – and she says the L-word comes up again and again.

“I can’t count the number of times I’ve interviewed successful actresses and singers – and I mean A-List, stadium-filling, box office-smashing women who are making some of the most important work of their career – who call themselves ‘lucky’ when describing their success,” she says. “I often pick them up on it and ask if it’s really luck or if they’ve worked hard to get there. And they almost always agree they’ve worked bloody hard.”

Why it’s time women stopped saying their success is down to ‘luck’