女人味對於職場女性是把雙面刃

Female leaders have little issue defining the rules that lead to success in their various industries. But ask them about the rules dictating how professional women should present themselves to optimize their career goals and there’s a good chance your question will be met with hesitation.

不同行業的女性領袖通常能毫不費力地給出通往成功的祕訣。不過如果你問她們，職場女性應當樹立怎樣的形象，才更利於實現職業目標，她們很可能就不知從何答起了。

Why? For women in the workplace, the whole appearance topic is nothing short of a contradiction-riddled minefield.

爲什麼呢？因爲對於職場女性而言，所有關於外表的話題都是矛盾重重的雷區。

They’ve been told attractive people are better off. Thanks to an innate human bias that’s become known as the “what is beautiful is good” effect, beautiful employees are seen as more intelligent, more competent, more everything-that’s-good. Attractiveness has been found to lead to more job interviews, more job offers, higher income and greater overall success.

她們被告知，有魅力的人也會有更好的境遇。由於人類與生俱來的愛美之心，人們認爲漂亮的員工更聰明，能力更強，有着更好的一切。更富魅力的人能得到更多面試機會，更容易找到工作，收入更高，就總體而言也更加成功。

But wait! That’s not the whole story.

且慢，情況並非都是這樣。

“Women are in an impossible catch-22 when it comes to advice on appearance, ” says Selena Rezvani, author of Pushback and a speaker and consultant on women and leadership. “Most modern advice on appearance suggests you find a perfect balance between acknowledging your femininity but not overemphasizing it. This increasingly thin line is hard to locate for the average woman, let alone translate and personalize. The short message to women is: your femininity is an asset and liability.”

還有一種說法叫“紅顏禍水”。顯然，美貌也可能對你不利。實際上，在應聘和工作中，美貌可能讓你遭受更多歧視，而在你擔任領導職位時，它還可能降低下屬對你的信賴感和忠誠度。《反推：聰明的女人如何要求並堅持她們想要的》（Pushback）一書的作者、演說家兼女性和領導力顧問賽琳娜•雷茲瓦尼表示：“有關外表的建議往往讓女性陷入一種悖論。當今的大多數建議都是女性要適當彰顯女人味兒，但不要過分強調它。但是對於大多數女人來說，這個分寸越來越難以把握，要活學活用到自己身上就更難了。簡而言之，女人味既是女性的資本，又是一種負擔。”

From makeup to hair color, metrics measuring attractiveness and success are all over the map. Studies in both the U.S. and the U.K. (both sponsored by cosmetics companies, it must be noted) have concluded that the stuff can help you appear more competent on the job. But again, watch out! Wear too much — or not in quite the right way — or just generally look like you’ve spent a lot of time on your grooming, and you might find that you earn less or appear less trustworthy. Going gray has long been considered more of a challenge for women than for men (does it signify experience and wisdom, or just old age?), but even other colors have unspoken connotations. During tough economic times, blonde women have been reported to dye their hair darker so as to be taken more seriously.

從妝容到頭髮顏色，評判魅力和成功的標準各不相同。在英美兩國進行的調查得出了一個結論（必須說明，這些調查都是由化妝品公司贊助的）：多穿點可以讓你在工作中顯得更加能幹。但是請注意！穿得太多——或者穿得不合適——或者你貌似花了很多時間來打扮自己，都可能使你的能力看上去大打折扣，或者顯得不那麼值得信賴。長期以來，人們認爲鬢角染霜對女性的挑戰大於男性（它意味着經驗豐富並且充滿智慧，還是僅代表着衰老？），但人們對其它髮色也有隱含的解讀。據說在經濟困難時期，爲了獲得更多重視，金髮女郎會把自己的頭髮染成深色。

“Whether it’s about our appearance or whether or not to assert ourselves, we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t, ” says Bonnie Marcus, president and CEO of Women’s Success Coaching. “It’s a balancing act that ambitious women need to be aware of.”

女性職業諮詢網站Women’s Success Coaching的總裁兼首席執行官邦妮•馬庫斯表示：“無論我們的外表是否得體，無論我們是否堅持自我，我們怎麼做都會遭到非難。有追求的女性需要了解這種平衡之道。”

There’s not an easy solution. “I believe the only general statement you can make about this is that women need to be savvy about the culture of their organization, ” Marcus says. As the old saying goes, “dress for the job you want, ” she adds.

沒有什麼簡單的解決辦法。馬庫斯表示：“對此你唯一能說的就是：女性需要了解自己公司的文化。”就像一句老話說的那樣，“穿上與工作相配的衣服。”她補充道。