2019年经济学人 巴托比专栏:女性的一小步(1)

 

The glass ceiling in the corporate¹ world is not broken, but it is starting to crack.

企业界的玻璃天花板没有破碎，但就要开始破裂了。

Women are getting on to corporate boards at greater speed, and in greater numbers.

企业董事会中女性人数更多，增长速度更快。

Research by LinkedIn, a professional networking site, shows that across five countries

职业网站LinkedIn研究表明在5个国家中

(America, Germany, India, Italy and Norway) women it lists as directors reached the position faster than their male counterparts did.

（美国、德国、印度、意大利和挪威），女性坐上董事位子的速度比男性同事更快。

In America, for example, women got there 9.8 years after leaving university and men after 10.9 years.

例如，在美国，女性在大学毕业后需要9.8年爬上董事的位子，而男性则需要10.9年。

This suggests that younger women are making good progress in the boardroom. Overall, however, females are still lagging behind the males.

这表明在董事会中，年轻女性正在取得很大的进步。但总体来看，女性仍落后于男性。

The proportion of people in leadership roles (director-level and above) that is female in the five countries varies from 17% in India to 35% in America.

在五个国家中，领导层女性（董事及以上）人数从印度的17%到美国的35%各不相同。

Britain has seen a clear advance;

英国已经有了明显的进步；

a campaign there called the 30% club has managed to increase the share of female directors of FTSE 100 companies from 12.5% in 2010 to 30.6%.

英国‘30%俱乐’运动希望设法将英国富时100公司中女性董事的占比从2010年的12.5%增长至30.6%。

But as the world marks International Women's Day on March 8th, it is clear that the glass ceiling has not shattered.

但是在3月8日国际妇女节之日，很明显企业界的玻璃天花板还没有碎。

Some firms may be paying only lip service to the idea of female leadership.

一些公司或许不过是在口头上应承女性领导力这一想法。

A paper in the Academy of Management Journal highlights the phenomenon of "twokenism",

《管理学会杂志》中的一篇论文强调了“象征主义”现象，

a statistical² bunching of American companies with exactly two female directors.

据统计很多美国公司中只有两名女性董事。

The authors suggest this is directly related to the average number of female directors on S&P1500 boards in the period studied (2004-13), which was 1.92.

其作者暗示这和研究时段（2014-13）中标准普尔1500董事会的女性董事平均人数（1.92）有着直接关系。

By opting³ for two women, businesses could claim they had "above average" female representation.

通过选择两名女性入职，公司可以宣称自己公司女性代表人数“高于平均”。

In any case, a rise in the number of female directors is a narrow measure of female economic success.

最任何情况下，女性董事人数的增加都是对女性经济成功的一种狭隘衡量。

Having women at the top of organisations may inspire others to emulate⁴ them,

组织高层中有女性成员或许可以激励其他人模仿她们，

and board members may be able push through more female-friendly policies lower down in their organisations.

并且董事会成员或许能够在企业中推行对女性更加友好地政策。

But the vast majority of women would never expect to become directors.

但是大部分女性从未期待能成为董事。

What they value is an opportunity to get a well-paid job and to be free from discrimination while doing it.

她们看重的是得到高薪工作的机会以及在工作中不受歧视。

1 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。

2 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

3 opting   

v.选择，挑选( opt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• What courses are most students opting for? 多数学生选什么课程？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Wells doesn't rule out opting out and then re-signing with Houston. 威尔斯没有排除跳出合同再与火箭重签的可能。 来自互联网

4 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。