金融城應嚴肅對待性別失衡

Companies should not need to be persuaded to give women equal treatment. Talent no more discriminates between the genders than it does with respect to race or creed. Any employer that did so would hobble its ability to hire the best candidate. This is not just bad business but an unfair denial of opportunity.

沒必要諄諄善誘地引導企業對女性平等相待。男女在才能方面沒有差異，正如不同種族或信仰不同宗教的人在才能方面沒有差異一樣。在招人時歧視女性，不利於僱主招到最好的人選。這不僅對企業不划算，也不公平地剝奪了女性的機會。

ing-bottom: 68.36%;">

In a rational world half of senior jobs would go to women. Britain remains a long way from this. Women occupy only a fifth of positions at the level of managing director in the City. It is not just a problem of the financial sector: only 18 per cent of women become a partner in a law firm, less than a third a senior medical consultant and a tenth a university professor.

在合理的世界裏，應有一半的高管職位由女性擔任。英國離這個目標還很遠。在倫敦金融城，執行董事級別的職位只有五分之一由女性擔任。這個問題不只存在於金融業：律所合夥人中女性只佔18%，高級外科醫生中這個比例不到三分之一，大學教授中這個比例不到十分之一。

Opposing discrimination is not the same as pronouncing everyone the same. But this argues for more not less equal treatment. A prominent report on the subject argued that “women bring different perspectives and voices to the table, to the debate and to the decisions”. Studies confirm that diversity is associated with better financial returns. Companies dominated by men suffer a disadvantage, given that half of their customers and staff may be female. They also risk perpetuating a cycle in which an overly male workplace deters women from applying.

反對歧視並不等於宣稱男女完全一樣。但性別差異是促使我們對女性平等相待（而不是歧視女性）的理由。一份關於這個問題的著名報告指出，“女性爲討論方案、爲辯論、爲決策帶來不同的視角和聲音”。研究證實，多樣性與更高的金融回報是相關的。由男性主導的企業處於一種劣勢，因爲他們的一半客戶和員工可能都是女性。這樣的企業還面臨陷入永久惡性循環的風險：一個過度男性化的工作場所會嚇跑原本想要來求職的女性。

Governments recognise the problem but do not agree on what to do about it. On one side are those that believe in statutory quotas for women on company boards. Norway introduced a 40 per cent target in 2003, and has almost reached it. Germany recently overcame business opposition in legislating for a 30 per cent quota on supervisory boards. The Swiss may go further, insisting that such a target applies to all senior management roles.

各國政府都認識到了這個問題，但對於如何解決這個問題，大家意見不一。一派觀點認爲，應該強制規定企業董事會中女性所佔比例。挪威在2003年設置了40%的目標比例，眼下這個目標已接近實現。德國最近克服了企業界的反對，立法規定監事會女性比例至少要達到30%。瑞士可能更進一步，要求所有高級管理職位都適用這一比例。

The case against quotas is that they are both unfair and ineffective. All jobs should be determined on merit — the task should be to get women into the interview room. A study of Norway found that improvements at the top had not spread elsewhere. Throughout Europe, the proportion of women in senior executive positions still lags far behind those on boards. Quotas could even prove counterproductive if they create the perception of tokenism, which casts a cloud of suspicion on everyone who earned their promotion, particularly senior women.

反對設置強制比例的一派則認爲，這種規定既不公平，效果又差。所有職位都應任人唯賢，我們的任務應該是讓女性獲得面試機會。挪威的一項調查發現，頂層職位在消除性別歧視方面取得的進步並沒有擴展到其他地方。在整個歐洲，高管職位層面的女性比例仍然遠低於董事會中的女性比例。如果強制比例讓人產生裝點門面的感覺，那就可能適得其反，會連累那些憑真才實學獲得升職的女性（特別是高管中的女性）受到無理由的猜疑。

The UK government dislikes statutory quotas and has instead set a broad target of 25 per cent female representation on company boards. The bully pulpit may have helped; last year, under pressure from Vince Cable, the business secretary, mining company Glencore became the last company to appoint a female director.

英國政府對設置強制比例的想法不太熱衷，轉而設置了一個寬泛的目標——企業董事會中女性佔25%。政府的強力說教或許有所幫助。去年，迫於來自英國商務大臣文斯•凱布爾(Vince Cable)的壓力，富時100(FTSE 100)成分股公司中最後一家沒有女性董事的公司、礦商嘉能可(Glencore)也任命了一名女性董事。

Further progress requires a larger pipeline of women ascending the executive ranks. Until the age of 30 women tend to keep pace with men. The gap opens with the arrival of family life. Even though social norms are changing, women are still more likely to seek flexibility at work and their careers too often falter. Companies have been too slow to take advantage of technological advances that enable flexible work. This needs to change. Another idea, pioneered by banks, is to scour lists of female alumni on a career break in order to entice them back into senior roles.

要想在這一問題上取得進一步進展，就需要有更多女性進入高管行列。在30歲之前，女性在職場上通常與男性齊頭並進。有孩子之後，女性與男性的差距產生。儘管社會規範在變化，但女性仍更有可能尋求工作中的靈活性，她們的事業太多時候變得磕磕絆絆。在利用技術進步讓工作方式變得更靈活方面，企業的行動一直過於遲緩。這種情況必須改變。另一個由銀行率先提出的想法是，在正處於職業中斷期的女性前員工中物色人選，吸引她們回到職場擔任高級職位。

Social change can be glacially slow. It is barely 40 years since British female civil servants had to retire upon marriage. Proper equality may be achieved only once men become fully comfortable taking on the role of primary carer. In the meantime, it is up to corporate Britain to give the process a kick-start by making this a natural, convenient option. Firms that preach about people being their greatest asset should start seeing a crèche as an investment, not a perk.

社會的變化可能非常慢。英國女性公務員一結婚就得退休的日子距今也只不過40年。可能只有當男性坦然接受由他們擔當孩子的主要照料者時，真正的男女平等纔會實現。與此同時，開啓這一進程的任務落在英國商界身上，他們要讓男人看孩子成爲一種自然、方便的選擇。那些鼓吹自己最重要的資產是人才的企業，應該開始將建立日託所視爲一項投資，而非一種特殊福利。