女強人經常被問到的問題
Some prominent businesswomen believe they are being asked to disclose more about their personal lives as they climb the career ladder than their male counterparts.
One seemingly innocent but frequently asked question illustrates the keen interest in the balance that women have to achieve between their professional and private lives – “how do you make it work?”
“你是如何做到工作家庭兩不誤的？”這是一個看似無意但卻經常被問到的問題，表明人們非常好奇女性是如何在職業和個人生活之間取得平衡的。Campaigners say that this question would hardly ever be put to a man and that it implicitly raises doubts over women’s commitment to their professional lives.
有經驗的人表示，這個問題男人就很少被問及，而它也暗示了人們懷疑女性能否真正投入職業生活。
Similarly, in a recent interview for FT Executive Appointments, one female chief executive declined to answer questions about her home life, saying her own achievements might then be attributed to having a supportive husband and family – or to being single or childless.
同樣，在FT Executive Appointments最近的一次訪談中，一位女首席執行官就拒絕回答關於她家庭生活的問題，她說不然自己的成就可能被歸結爲背後有一個支持自己的丈夫和家庭，或者她是單身，或者她沒有孩子。Deborah Meaden, the entrepreneur whose profile rose dramatically when she began appearing on the BBC’s popular television show Dragons’ Den, has developed strict boundaries around the parts of her life that she will and will not discuss.
企業家黛博拉•米登(Deborah Meaden)在BBC電視秀節目《龍穴之創業投資》(Dragons' Den)露面之後聲名鵲起，關於個人生活中哪些方面能談論，哪些方面不能談論，她劃定了明確的界限。“I was fairly nervous about mentioning anything at the start, but I am clear now about what I will and won’t talk about,” she explains. “You will never see a picture of my home, but there are stories that I have decided I don’t mind talking about – like the fact that I keep pigs and sheep. Who my friends are and what I do in my private life is not public information,” she says.
“一開始的時候，談到任何（關於我個人生活）的事情，我都會很緊張，但現在我已經很清楚自己願意談什麼不願意談什麼。”她解釋道，“你永遠都看不到我家的照片，但有些東西我也不介意去談論，比如說我養豬養羊的事情。但我有哪些朋友以及我私生活中都做了些什麼就不便公開了。”她接着說。But she believes that the scale of interest in her personal life is the result of her media career, as much as her gender.
但她認爲，人們對她的個人生活抱有濃厚興趣，跟她從事傳媒工作以及她的性別都有關係。“There are more men in business and so it’s a fact that if you are a woman you are a rarity and therefore you will attract more interest. And there is interest in how your life works because the traditional form is that women look after the family. But a lot of business people go about their life without anyone being interested in their home life.”
“商界以男性居多，因此女性在商界就是‘珍稀動物’，也會吸引更多的目光。人們也會對你的生活方式感興趣，因爲傳統上來看，婦女應該是家庭主婦。但很多商界人士就能平平靜靜過自己的生活，他們的家庭生活不會受到關注。”Caroline Garnham, founder and chief executive of Family Bhive, the social networking website for wealthy individuals, says many high profile women fear the “JK Rowling experience”, where unwelcome public interest is extended to their children, who become a target for the media.
面向富人的社交網站Family Bhive的創始人兼首席執行官卡羅琳•伽漢姆(Caroline Garnham)指出，很多女名人都害怕“J•K•羅琳(JK Rowling)的經歷”，公衆過多的關注已經影響到了她的孩子們，使得他們成爲媒體追逐的目標。But, she adds, parents who maintain a balance between home and business are interesting. “People are interested in how women manage their lives. And I think that’s fine, it just depends on how the question is asked.”
但她也認爲，那些能夠在家庭和事業之間維持平衡的父母確實很令人感興趣。“人們對女性如何打理自己的生活感興趣。我認爲這也沒什麼，關鍵在於問問題的方式。”Peninah Thomson, director of the FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Programme, is less sure that pursuing a line of questioning about successful women’s home lives is a good idea.
“富時100指數跨公司指導計劃”的主管佩尼娜•湯姆森(Peninah Thomson)不贊同追問成功女性的家庭生活。“It’s perhaps not surprising that women executives are frequently asked about how they balance their professional and their personal lives, but I’m not sure it’s helpful,” she says.
“女性高管經常被問到她們如何在職業生活和個人生活之間達成平衡，這或許並不奇怪，但我不確定這樣問有什麼好處。”她說。“It runs the risk of implying that senior women may be grappling with challenges that are insurmountable, when the evidence is that professional women are succeeding in resolving those challenges – that they can be addressed.”
“這樣問好像是在暗示，女性高管需要克服很多難以逾越的挑戰，但事實證明，職業女性能夠成功應對這些挑戰，這些挑戰也是可以克服的。”She admits that matters of childcare costs, taxation and career progression for women who take time out of work to have children are important and worth discussing, but would prefer that the focus of these debates was more positive: “Focusing relentlessly on the difficulties rather than arguing for creative solutions, doesn’t help.”
她承認，對於那些從工作中抽出時間來養育孩子的女性來說，照顧孩子的費用、納稅、職業發展等問題確實很重要，也值得去討論。但她認爲，人們討論的重點應該放在更加積極的方面：“一味地關注困難，而不是尋找有創造性的解決方法，這是沒有任何幫助的。”The fact that Helena Morrissey, chief executive of Newton Investment Management, has nine children is often raised in profiles written about her, but Rebecca Harding, chief executive of economics consultancy Delta Economics, believes this is because it is an eye-catching fact, not because she is a woman.
牛頓投資管理(Newton Investment Management)首席執行官海倫娜•莫里西(Helena Morrissey)有九個孩子的事實經常會出現在關於她的介紹中。Delta Economics首席執行官麗貝卡•哈定(Rebecca Harding)認爲這是因爲這個事實很引人注目，而不是因爲她是一個女性。“These sorts of facts are the things that make you interesting to the world at large,” she argues. “If you have a high profile then you will be asked questions about your personal life, irrespective of whether you are a man or a woman.“
她解釋說，“這種事會吸引整個世界的目光。如果你很知名，那麼你就會被問及個人生活的問題，不管你是男的還是女的。”She agrees with Ms Meaden that women in senior positions attract more attention that their male counterparts because they are less common, but has found that the group most interested in her home life is other women.
她同意米登女士的看法，身處高層的女性往往比同級別的男性更讓人關注，是因爲她們更不尋常，但她也發現，對她的家庭生活最感興趣的也是女性。“I speak at a lot of women’s events and I am always asked about my domestic situation. I accept it and I will talk about anything. Your personal experiences make you who you are and affect what you bring to the workplace.”
“我在很多婦女活動上發言，也總是被問及自己的家庭情況。我也接受了這個事實，並且願意談論所有的話題。個人經歷造就了現在的自己，也會給你的工作帶來影響。”Heather Jackson, chief executive of An Inspirational Journey, an organisation that aims to increase the number of women in senior positions, is adamant that women should be open about their home lives.
以增加女性高管數量爲宗旨的組織An Inspirational Journey的首席執行官海瑟•傑克森(Heather Jackson)堅持認爲，女性應該直言不諱地談論自己的家庭生活。“We need more role models, we need women to talk honestly about how they live their lives so that other women can learn from them and we can address the fact that there are so few women in the C-suite [in executive roles],” she says.
“我們需要更多的行爲模範，女性應該誠懇地談論她們的生活方式，這樣其他女性就可以學習她們，從而改變女性高管數量少得可憐這一事實。”她說。Ms Jackson, who raised two children as a single mother at the same time as starting her business, says she has made a point of always being open about her personal situation.
養育了兩個孩子的單身母親傑克森同時也創立了自己的公司，她認爲從來不必隱瞞自己的個人情況。“I think women are worried about being judged on something outside of their professional life, but professional identities depend on personality and chemistry as well as skills,” she says.
“在我看來，女性比較在意人們對自己職業生活之外的事‘指指點點’，但職場上的形象不僅取決於技能，也取決於個性和感染力。”她說。“Women will get asked these questions and they can use it to their advantage – so long as they are prepared for the possibility that there is a subconscious question ‘can you do this role?’ behind the one that’s being asked.”
“女性可能會被問到這些問題，但她們也可以對此加以利用，只要她們明白問題背後可能隱含着一個潛意識的問題‘你能扮演好這個角色嗎？’，並準備好應對就行。”But Ms Jackson also thinks that the question is no longer put to women alone. Personal questions are becoming a mainstay of business conversations, she says, regardless of gender.
然而，傑克森女士也認爲，現在不僅是女性需要面對這個問題。個人問題已經成爲商務談話中的一個主流問題，不管是男是女。Ms Harding agrees. “The subject of families used to be a complete no-go area, but over the past 10 years there has been a real shift. Business leaders are coached to introduce bits of their personal life to their corporate life – because it’s their story and personal experiences that make them who they are.”
哈定女士認同這個說法。“家庭問題曾經是個‘禁區’，但這十年來變化很大。如今公司領導需要學會在他們的公司生活中融入一些個人生活，因爲正是他們的背景和個人經歷造就了現在的他們。”
