but by the time that same pipeline is filling leadership positions, it is overwhelmingly stocked with men. 而同时期的领导岗位却被男性占满。

There are so many reasons for this winnowing out, but one important contributor is a leadership ambition gap. 这个淘汰过程形成的背后有很多原因，但造成高级职位中女性数量稀少的一个重要原因是缺乏想当领导的进取心。

Of course, many individual women are as professionally ambitious as any individual man. 当然，有不少女人和男人一样在事业上雄心勃勃。

Yet drilling down, the data clearly indicate that in field after field, more men than women aspire to the most senior jobs. 然而我们深入地看待问题时，有关女性对高级职位渴望度的数据显示，在各个行业里追求高级职位的人，基本都是男性多于女性。

A 2012 McKinsey survey of more than four thousand employees of leading companies  麦肯锡在2012年对于财富500强企业的4000多名员工的一项调查中发现，

found that 36 percent of the men wanted to become CEOs, compared to only 18 percent of the women. 男性中有36%的人想要成为首席执行官，而女性只有18%。

When jobs are described as powerful, challenging, and involving high levels of responsibility, they appeal to more men than women. 当工作被描述为具有影响力、挑战性并涉及高级职责时，要求得到该工作的男性数量明显多于女性。

And while the ambition gap is most pronounced at the highest levels, 尽管我们通常是在高管级别谈论两性在进取心上的差距，

the underlying dynamic is evident at every step of the career ladder. 但在事业发展的每个阶段，这种差别都很明显。

A survey of college students found  一项关于大学生的调查发现，

that more men than women chose "reaching a managerial level" as a career priority in the first three years after graduating. 毕业后以“进入管理层”作为头3年职业目标的更多是男性。

Even among highly educated professional men and women, more men than women describe themselves as "ambitious." 即使是在那些受过高等教育的男性和女性中，声称自己“有事业抱负”的，也是男性多于女性。

There is some hope that a shift is starting to occur in the next generation.  要在下一代人中实现一些转变仍然是有希望的。