2021年经济学人 巴托比职场专栏--女性高管的境况(1)

Business

商业版块

Bartleby

巴托比职场专栏

Mothers of invention

创新之母

The parallels and differences between two generations of female executives

两代女性高管的异同

Betsy Holden was vice-president of strategy and new products at Kraft, a giant food company, when she became pregnant for the second time. “No one has ever done the job with two children,” her male boss worried. “How many children do you have?” Ms. Holden asked. “Two,” he replied.

在怀二胎时，贝特西·霍尔顿在一家大型食品公司卡夫公司担任战略和新产品副总裁。她的男老板非常担心，“从来没有有两个孩子的人做过这个职位。”霍尔顿问道，“那你有几个孩子？”男老板回答道，“两个。”

This double standard is only one of the barriers that female executives face, as recounted in “Power Moms”, a new book by Joann Lublin, a former Wall Street Journal columnist¹. The author focuses on two waves of female leaders. The first group were the baby-boomers, born between 1946 and 1964. These were often the only women in upper management at their firms. They faced a lot of pressure to be hands-on mothers, had little support from their husbands and were reluctant to ask for reduced schedules for fear of not seeming committed to their jobs. The stress for these women was immense, especially as they felt unable to discuss their parenting problems with male colleagues.

正如前《华尔街日报》专栏作家乔安·卢布林在新书《职场妈妈》中所述，这种双标只是女性高管面临的障碍之一。作者聚焦于两代女性领导。第一代的女领导们是出生于1946年至1964年的婴儿潮一代，她们通常是其公司高层管理层中唯一的女性。她们背负着要成为事必躬亲的母亲的巨大压力，几乎得不到丈夫的支持，也不愿意要求减少工作安排，因为担心会显得对工作不够投入。这些女性背负着巨大的压力，尤其是当她们觉得无法与男性同事讨论自己的育儿问题时。

The second wave of women, born between 1974 and 1985, had female colleagues in upper management, expected (and usually received) support from their spouses², and benefited from employer perks³, such as maternity⁴ leave and flexible working. They were able to be more open with colleagues about their parental⁵ duties. This later generation has mastered the “work-life sway” in which they move back and forth⁶ between their personal and professional lives in the course of a day, conducting a meeting before taking their children for a check-up and then returning to the office.

第二代女领导出生于1974年至1985年，她们有女同事担任高层管理人员，期望（通常能够得到）配偶的支持，并享受着老板的津贴，如产假和弹性工作制。他们能够更坦率地与同事谈论自己身为的父母责任。出生更晚的这一代人已经掌握了“权衡工作与生活的方法”，她们每天在私人生活和职业生活之间来回穿梭，在带孩子体检前能先开个会，然后再回到办公室。

The earlier generation, by blazing the trail, made it easier for those behind them. A Harvard Business School study shows that adult daughters of employed mothers are more likely to hold supervisory responsibility and earn higher incomes while sons are likely to spend more time caring for family members. And companies are now much more willing to promote women, who make up more than a fifth of senior executive positions in American firms, compared with just 10% in 1996. A few are exceptionally accommodating, for example providing rooms where mothers can express milk, sinks to wash the breast pump and even courier services to deliver the milk when they are away on a business trip.

早期的一代女领导是开路先锋，让后代女性走得更容易。哈佛商学院的一项研究表明，就业母亲的成年女儿更有可能承担管理责任，收入更高，而儿子则有可能花更多时间照顾家庭成员。公司如今更愿意提拔女性，在美国公司的高管职位中，女性占比超过五分之一，而1996年这一比例仅为10%。一些公司非常乐于帮助女高管，例如，为母亲提供挤奶室以及清洗吸奶器的水槽，甚至在她们出差时提供配送母乳的快递服务。

1 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

2 spouses   

n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jobs are available for spouses on campus and in the community. 校园里和社区里有配偶可做的工作。 来自辞典例句
• An astonishing number of spouses-most particularly in the upper-income brackets-have no close notion of their husbands'paychecks. 相当大一部分妇女——特别在高收入阶层——并不很了解他们丈夫的薪金。 来自辞典例句

3 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

4 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

5 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

6 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。