亞洲女性爲何更難晉升高層?

Asia's women face more barriers than those in the West in penetrating the top ranks of corporate management, contributing to a shortage of talent that threatens to stifle the region's economic growth, according to a report to be released Monday.

管理諮詢公司麥肯錫（McKinsey & Co.）7月2日發佈的一份報告顯示，亞洲女性在進入企業高級管理層的過程中比西方女性面臨更多障礙。這導致了人才短缺，從而有可能抑制亞洲地區的經濟增長。

The survey of 1,500 senior managers and research of 744 exchange-listed companies across the region by McKinsey & Co., a management consulting firm, suggests that increasing the number of women in high-level positions can improve companies' financial performance and countries' economic expansion. The research偉among the first to look at the mix of women on corporate boards and executive committees across 10 Asia-Pacific markets has implications for the fast-growing region's companies, many of which are struggling to recruit the high-level managers they need to expand.

麥肯錫對亞洲1,500名高級管理人員和744家上市公司進行的調研顯示，增加高層職位中的女性人數可以改善公司的財務業績和推動國家的經濟擴張。這是最早對10個亞太市場中女性在公司董事會和執行委員會的任職情況進行調查的研究之一。該研究對迅速增長的亞太地區的公司有一定啓示，其中很多公司都在努力招募高層管理人員以拓展業務。

Asian companies with the highest proportion of women on executive committees posted an average return on equity, a closely watched metric among investors and analysts, of 22% between 2007 and 2009, compared with 15% for those with no women on their executive committee, McKinsey's analysis shows.

麥肯錫的分析報告指出，那些執行委員會中女性成員比例最高的公司在2007到2009年間平均股本回報率爲22%，而執行委員會中沒有女性的公司這一數據僅爲15%。股本回報率是投資者和分析師都密切關注的一個衡量標準。

"Women tend to be stronger in terms of collaboration and people development, while men tend to be stronger in individual decision making," says Wang Jin, a Shanghai-based principal at McKinsey who helped author the report. "By having more women at the senior level, companies are helping to improve organizational health as well as financial performance."

報告作者之一、麥肯錫上海分公司董事王錦說，女性在協作和員工發展方面能力較強，而男性則在個體決策方面能力較強；吸納更多女性進入高層將有助於公司組織健康狀況和財務業績的改善。

Currently, the percentage of women on corporate boards and executive committees in Asian countries severely lags behind the West. Women accounted for only 6% of seats on corporate boards in the markets studied, compared with 17% in Europe and 15% in the U.S. In 2008, Japanese company Nissan promoted Fumiko Hayashi to head of auto sales. Ms. Hayashi, now the mayor of Yokohama, is one of the few women in Japan to make it to that level.

當前，亞洲國家女性在公司董事會和執行委員會所佔比例遠遠落後於西方。在研究涉及的市場中，女性只佔公司董事會6%的席位，而在歐洲和美國的比例分別爲17%和15%。2008年，日本日產汽車（Nissan）提拔林文子（Fumiko Hayashi）擔任汽車銷售主管。如今已身爲橫濱市市長的林文子是日本極少數能做到那個級別的女性之一。

In Asia, "there's a much stronger barrier in terms of the expectation that women have to (stay home) to take care of their families," says Ms. Wang.

王錦說，在亞洲，從女性必須（呆在家）照顧家庭的觀念來說，女性晉升的障礙要大得多。

The workplace gender gap is less severe, however, when taking into account privately held companies. A 2012 report by accounting firm Grant Thornton showed that globally women held one in five senior management positions at privately held and public companies surveyed. In this case, Asian countries tend to have a higher proportion of women in senior management than in the West: In the Southeast Asian nations, nearly a third of senior management positions belong to women, compared to 18% in North America and 24% in Europe.

但如果將私人控股公司也考慮在內，這種職場性別差異就沒那麼嚴重了。均富國際會計事務所（Grant Thornton）2012年的一份報告顯示，在全球範圍內接受調查的私人控股和上市公司中，高級管理層的崗位有五分之一被女性佔據。將私人控股公司考慮在內的話，亞洲國家的女性高管比例要高於西方國家：在東南亞國家，將近三分之一的高級管理職位被女性佔據，而北美和歐洲分別爲18%和24%。

In McKinsey's research, an average of 30% of senior managers surveyed said that many or most women who reached the middle and senior levels of management and left their jobs voluntarily, did so due to family commitments.

在麥肯錫的調研中，平均30%的受調查高管說，許多或者大多數在達到中高層管理職位後就主動離職的女性都是出於家庭原因。

Another problem is that a lower percentage of women are in the workforce in Asia. In India, which has one of the world's lowest female labor participation rates, only a third of women work. In Taiwan and Malaysia, less than 50% of women work.

另一個問題是，在亞洲，參加工作的女性比例較低。在女性就業率屬全球最低之列的印度，只有三分之一的女性參加工作。而在臺灣和馬來西亞，也只有不到50%的女性參加工作。

But even in Asian markets with more women in the workforce, women aren't making it to the top levels of management. China has one of the highest female labor participation rates in the world, at 74%, but less than 10% of executive board and committee members are women. Chinese companies tend to value gender diversity less than in the West: Only 27% of senior managers surveyed said it is one of their top 10 priorities, compared with 53% in Europe.

但即使是在女性就業率較高的亞洲市場，女性也很難進入最高管理層。中國的女性就業率在全球各國名列前茅，高達74%，但只有不到10%的執行董事會和委員會成員是女性。中國的公司似乎沒有西方公司那樣重視性別均衡化：只有27%的受調查高管表示性別均衡化是公司最重視的十大要務之一，而在歐洲這一比例爲53%。

Among Asia's wealthier countries, the workplace gender gap is most pronounced in South Korea, though the McKinsey study suggested that the country is moving faster than most to address the problem.

在亞洲比較富裕的國家中，職場性別差異最嚴重的是韓國，但麥肯錫的報告稱該國解決這個問題的行動速度比大部分國家都快。

South Korea created a cabinet-level ministry responsible for gender equality. The government also provides loans and subsidies for companies to build child-care facilities, and subsidizes companies for family friendly policies that help women juggle work and family life. And South Korean executives expect their companies to develop policies to encourage greater diversity and opportunities for women, the study found.

韓國設立了專門負責性別平等問題的內閣部門。政府還爲公司提供建立兒童保育機構的貸款和補貼，資助公司制定幫助女性職員平衡工作和家庭的“家庭友好政策”。研究還發現，韓國的高管們希望他們的公司出臺促進性別均衡化和增加女性升職機會的政策。

Elsewhere in Asia, governments and the corporate sector are also moving to boost the ranks of women in senior positions.

在亞洲其他國家，政府和企業部門也在採取行動來擴大女性高管隊伍。

In Malaysia, the government set a target in 2004 to have 30% of women at the decision-making level in the public sector, a goal it exceeded by 2010. Last year, the government said it would extend this target to the private sector by 2016. Meanwhile, national and private initiatives in Australia have led to a significant increase in women on Australian boards, to nearly 14% this March from 8.3% in 2010.

馬來西亞政府於2004年制定目標，要使女性成員佔到公共部門決策層的30%，這一目標已於2010年超額實現。去年，該國政府又宣佈要在2016年之前把這一目標比例擴展到私營領域。與此同時，澳大利亞國家及私營領域的倡議行動也促使女性成員在董事會中所佔比例得到顯著提高，由2010年的8.3%提高到了今年3月的14%。

But how quickly Asia's women can climb the corporate ladder depends on when societies change their way of thinking.

然而，亞洲女性能以多快的速度在公司中晉升，要看社會的觀念何時改變。

South Korea's reliance on hierarchical-based hiring and promotions, for instance, means that it could take years for women to play a prominent role in executive suites and corporate boardrooms.

舉例來說，韓國很依賴等級分明的僱用和晉升制度，這意味着女性要花好幾年時間纔有可能在高管團隊和公司董事會中扮演重要角色。

In a recent visit to South Korea, Norway's minister of trade and industry, Trond Giske, presided at a workshop to educate South Korean government and corporate officials on its policies that encourage women to stay in the workforce. Norway requires companies to appoint women to 40% of board-level positions.

在最近一次訪問韓國期間，挪威貿工大臣特隆德•吉斯克（Trond Giske）主持了一場研討會，旨在引導韓國政府和公司官員出臺鼓勵女性留在職場的政策。挪威政府規定，公司董事會級別職位的40%須由女性擔任。

"South Korea will do what's right for it," Mr. Giske said after the session. "We're just showing what's possible for a wealthy country with low population growth to do."

吉斯克在會後說，韓國會做出適合自己的選擇，我們只是在展示擁有較低人口增長率的富裕國家可以採取的做法。