向前一步:第210期 让我们开始讨论吧(16)

 It might have served her better to explain how she was contributing to the company and ask for the promotion¹ first. 如果她能阐述一下自己对公司做出了怎样的贡献再要求晋职，结果也许会好很多。

Even today, mentioning gender² in work situations often makes people visibly uncomfortable. 直到今天，在工作场合提及性别问题，常常会让人们表现得很不自在，

To their credit, many institutions have worked hard to sensitize people to these issues, especially sexual harassment³. 这导致许多机构都很努力地让人们对这些问题（尤其是性骚扰）变得更加敏感。

But while human resources seminars can raise consciousness and help protect employees, 尽管人力资源研讨会可以增强员工的自我保护意识、帮助维护员工的权益，

they have also raised the specter of legal action, which can create real barriers to these conversations. 但竖起法律大旗的同时也造成了某种阴影，很可能会对这类变革造成真正的障碍。

The federal and state laws that are designed to protect employees against discrimination 目前，美国联邦政府和各个州都制定了相关法律，以保护员工不受歧视，

specify⁴ only that an employer cannot make decisions based on certain protected characteristics such as gender, pregnancy⁵, and age. 但只强调雇主不能基于某些被保护特征，如性别、怀孕和年龄等做出人事决定。

But companies usually take the policy a step further and teach managers not to ask anything related to these areas. 但是，公司方面常常会把这些规定执行得过了头，以致管理者在提问时绝对不敢涉及以上任何领域，

Anyone making even a benign⁶ inquiry⁷ such as "Are you married?" or "Do you have kids?" 甚至连善意地问一句“你结婚了吗”或者“你有孩子吗”

can later be accused of basing a personnel decision on this information. 都会在此后发生人事变动时被指责利用了这些信息。

As a result, a manager who is trying to help a female employee by pointing out a gender-driven style difference could be charged with discrimination for doing so. 那么一位经理本想帮助一位女员工，告诉她行事风格不同是因为男女有异，这就可能会被指控为他有性别歧视。

The first time I asked a prospective⁸ employee if she was considering having children soon, 当我第一次问一个很有潜力的女性员工是否考虑马上要孩子时，

I understood that doing so could expose me and my company to legal risk. 我就很清楚这么做可能会让自己和公司面临法律风险。

Unlike many women, I was in a position to evaluate that risk and chose to take it. 和许多女性不一样，我的职位让我能够去考虑到这样的风险，并敢于去挑战它。

 

1 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

2 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。

3 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

4 specify   

vt.指定，详细说明

参考例句：

• We should specify a time and a place for the meeting.我们应指定会议的时间和地点。
• Please specify what you will do.请你详述一下你将做什么。

5 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

6 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

7 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

8 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。