问答题
Today in the United States and the developed world,
women are better off than ever before. But the blunt truth is that men still run
the world. While women continue to outpace men in educational achievement, we
have ceased making real progress at the top of any industry. Women hold around
14% of Fortune 500 executive-officer positions and about 17% of board seats,
numbers that have barely budged over the last decade. This means that when it
comes to making the decisions that most affect our world, our voices are not
heard equally. It is time for us to face the fact that our
revolution has stalled. A truly equal world would be one where women ran half of
our countries and companies and men ran half of our homes. The laws of economics
and many studies of diversity tell us that if we tapped the entire pool of human
resources and talent, our performance would improve. Throughout
my career, I was told over and over about inequalities in the workplace
and how hard it would be to have a career and a family. I rarely, however, heard
anything about the ways I was holding myself back. From the moment they are
born, boys and girls are treated differently. Women internalize the negative
messages we get throughout our lives—the messages that say it's wrong to be
outspoken, aggressive, more powerful than men—and pull back when we should lean
in. We must not ignore the real obstacles women face in the
professional world, from sexism and discrimination to a lack of flexibility,
access to child care and parental leave. But women can dismantle the internal
barriers holding us back today. Here is one example of how women can lean
in. In 2003, Columbia Business School professor Frank Flynn and
New York University professor Cameron Anderson ran an experiment. They started
with a Harvard Business School case study about a real-life entrepreneur named
Heidi Roizen. It described how Roizen became a successful venture capitalist by
using her "outgoing personality ... and vast personal and professional network
... [which] included many of the most powerful business leaders in the
technology sector". Half the students in the experiment were assigned to read
Heidi's story. The other half got the same story with just one difference—the
name was changed from Heidi to Howard. When students were
polled, they rated Heidi and Howard as equally competent. But Howard came across
as a more appealing colleague. Heidi was seen as selfish and not "the type of
person you would want to hire or work for". This experiment supports what
research has already clearly shown, success and likeability are positively
correlated for men and negatively correlated for women. When a man is
successful, he is liked by both men and women. When a woman is successful,
people of both genders like her less. I believe this bias is at
the very core of why women are held back. It is also at the very core of why
women hold themselves back. When a woman excels at her job, both men and women
will comment that she is accomplishing a lot but is "not as well liked by her
peers". She is probably also "too aggressive", "not a team player", "a bit
political"; she "can't be trusted" or is "difficult". Those are all things that
have been said about me and almost every senior woman I know.
The solution is making sure everyone is aware of the penalty women pay for
success. Recently at Facebook, a manager received feedback that a woman who
reported to him was "too aggressive". Before including this in her review, he
decided to dig deeper. He went back to the people who gave the feedback and
asked what aggressive actions she had taken. After they answered, he asked
point-blank, "If a man had done those same things, would you have considered him
too aggressive?" They each said no. By showing both men and women how female
colleagues are held to different standards, we can start changing attitudes
today.
问答题
Why does the author say that "men still run the world"?
【正确答案】The author says so because she's noticed the fact that although women outperform men in school, they haven't done as well in the workplace. In most industries, the overwhelming majority of top positions are held by men. For more than 10 years, the number of women holding executive-officer positions or board seats in Fortune 500 is less than 20%—there is still a huge gap between the current proportion and the expected 50%. Since for so many years the most influential decisions are mainly made by men, it's obvious that "men still run the world".
问答题
According to the experiment mentioned in the passage, how is success and likeability correlated for men and women respectively?
【正确答案】The experiment was conducted in 2003 to test perceptions of men and women in the workplace. Participants in the experiment read a story about a real-life entrepreneur. For half of them, the entrepreneur's name is Heidi, a woman's name; for the other half, the entrepreneur's named Howard, indicating that he's a man. Surprisingly, the same data with a single difference—gender—created vastly different impressions. This experiment revealed that success and likability are positively correlated for men and negatively correlated for women. When a man is successful, he is liked by both men and women. When a woman is successful, people of both genders like her less.
问答题
What does "this bias" mean (para. 7)? What impact does this bias have?
【正确答案】"This bias" refers to the conclusion of the experiment mentioned above—when men and women are both achieving a lot, people's perceptions of them are quite different. Women can be commented as competent as men, but in the meanwhile, they're labeled as "too aggressive", "not a team player", etc. This bias is a huge barrier that holds women back in the workplace, and it is also the main reason why women hold themselves back.
问答题
What can we do to change people's attitude towards women in the workforce?
【正确答案】Although no one would like to admit that they have bias against women in the workplace, people do stereotype on the basis of gender. We can see that from the Facebook example. To change people's attitude, we need to improve people's awareness that women are paying gender-based penalty for their success. We should also help people realize that it is unfair to set different standards for and demanding too much of women.