科学美国人60秒 女性CEO改变职场谈论女性的方式(1)

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是凯伦·霍普金。

Think of a top executive at a powerhouse company.

想象一家实力雄厚的公司的高管。

You’re no doubt imagining someone who’s confident and clever, decisive and determined¹.

毫无疑问，你想象中的是一位自信、聪明、果断、坚定的人。

And, though it pains me to say it, you’re probably picturing a man.

虽然说出来让我很痛苦，但你想象的可能是一个男人。

The sad thing is, you wouldn’t be too far off the mark.

可悲的是，你猜的不会差太远。

Around only 7 percent of S&P 500 CEOs are women, despite women making up 50 percent of the population.

尽管标准普尔公司的女性占总人口的50%，但首席执行官中只有7%是女性。

That’s Asher Lawson, a graduate student at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

这位是杜克大学福库商学院的研究生亚瑟·劳森。

He says that one way to even the playing field might be to change the way we think about and talk about leadership.

他说，实现公平竞争的一种方式可能是改变我们思考和谈论领导力的方式。

And he and his colleagues have found that organizations are more likely to describe women using words that are typically associated with achievement if they have female CEOs.

他和他的同事们发现，如果公司的首席执行官是女性，那么组织更有可能使用通常与成就相关的词汇来描述女性。

Their findings appear in the Proceedings² of the National Academy of Sciences.

他们的研究结果发表在《美国国家科学院院刊》上。

Gender³ inequality has been deemed the “greatest human rights challenge of our time” by the United Nations.

性别不平等被联合国视为“我们这个时代最大的人权挑战”。

In our research we’re interested in specifically some of the factors that perpetuate⁴ these gender inequities, as well as the downstream consequences of those gender stereotypes⁵.

在我们的研究中，我们特别感兴趣的是一些使性别不平等长期存在的因素，以及那些性别刻板印象引发的后果。

To get at the roots of these stereotypes, Lawson and his team took a closer look at corporate⁶ speak — and the words businesses use when referring to women.

为了找到这些刻板印象的根源，劳森和他的团队仔细研究了企业用语，以及企业在提到女性时使用的词汇。

So we’re really interested in language because it gives us this deep insight into how people are thinking about women in a way that doesn’t rely on them reporting it themselves.

我们对语言很感兴趣，因为语言让我们深入了解人们是如何看待女性的，而不需要依靠他们自己作报告。

Now, coming straight out and asking companies how they feel about females can lead to some fanciful forecasting.

现在，直接询问公司他们对女性的看法可能会导致一些奇特的猜测。

So if you ask organizations whether they believe in gender equity⁷ or whether they’re interested in fairness, because of social desirability concerns, they’ll nearly always say yes.

所以，如果你问一些机构，他们是否认为性别平等，或者他们是否对公平感兴趣，因为他们会考虑到社会的认可性，他们几乎都会回答是。

1 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

2 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

4 perpetuate   

v.使永存，使永记不忘

参考例句：

• This monument was built to perpetuate the memory of the national hero.这个纪念碑建造的意义在于纪念民族英雄永垂不朽。
• We must perpetuate the system.我们必须将此制度永久保持。

5 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

7 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。