It would be preferable if everyone had permission to talk about this subject both publicly and behind closed office doors. 如果每个人都被允许在公开场合和办公室里自由地谈论这个话题，那就更好了。

One stumbling block is that many people believe that the workplace is largely a meritocracy, 还有一块很大的绊脚石是，许多人相信职场中奉行的是“一切看实力”的游戏规则，

which means we look at individuals, not groups, and determine that differences in outcomes must be based on merit, not gender. 意思是我们只看个人而非群体的表现，而且导致结果不同的决定因素必然是实力而非性别。

Men at the top are often unaware of the benefits they enjoy simply because they're men, 高层男性常常意识不到仅仅因为自己是男性而享受到的好处，

and this can make them blind to the disadvantages associated with being a woman. 这就让他们看不到作为女性所存在的弱势。

Women lower down also believe that men at the top are entitled to be there, 低层女性也相信高层男性的地位来自于实力，

so they try to play by the rules and work harder to advance rather than raise questions or voice concerns about the possibility of bias. 所以她们努力遵从各种规则，努力工作以谋求发展，而不是对可能存在的性别偏见提出质疑、发表意见。

As a result, everyone becomes complicit in perpetuating an unjust system. 结果，所有人都一起在维护这种不公平的体制。

At the same time, we must be careful not to inject gender into every discussion. 与此同时，我们还必须小心，不要把性别问题带入所有的讨论。

I know a male CEO who is enormously dedicated to hiring and promoting women. 我认识的一个男性首席执行官曾花了很大心力去雇用和晋升女员工。

When a female employee kicked off a negotiation by insisting that she should have a higher title and was underleveled because she was a woman, 有一位女员工和他商议时，坚持认为自己的职位应该更高，而且认为自己之所以不被重视是由于身为女性。

it immediately put him on the defense. 他听到这话不得不立刻反驳。

She was speaking her truth, but in this case, her truth was an accusation with legal ramifications. 她说的是实话，但在这种情况下，实话却略带夸张地变成了控诉。

As soon as she framed the issue in those terms, the CEO had no choice but to put their friendly talks on hold and call in HR. 一旦她用这种方式来谈问题，首席执行官就别无选择，只好暂时中断原本友好的谈话。