最高層鮮有女性的職場文化潛規則

There is much concern about why women are not making it to the top of organisations and professions.

有一個備受關注的現象：爲什麼女性沒法晉升到組織和專業的最高層？

Equal numbers of men and women are recruited and a reasonable percentage are there at mid to senior levels, but there are few at the top.

招聘時男女人數相當，而中高層的女性比例也還合理，但在頂層就幾乎沒有。

When asked why this happens, I say with some confidence that it is about workplace culture.

在被問及爲何會這樣時，我可以有信心地說，是因爲職場文化。

Two years ago we surveyed all our alumnae from Murray Edwards College, Cambridge.

兩年前，我們調查了劍橋大學默裏•愛德華茲學院(Murray Edwards College, Cambridge)的校友。

When asked what had been the biggest challenge to their career, 22 per cent of those women said it was combining work and family; 38 per cent cited an unsupportive workplace culture.

在問到他們職業中最大的挑戰時，22%的女性說是兼顧工作和家庭兩頭；38%的女性稱職場文化缺乏支持。

This is not all about gender bias, but a lot was summed up by a woman in her mid-30s: I was surprised by how male-dominated the workplace is, designed by men, for men, with a male culture and set of values.

原因並非全是性別偏見，但一位35歲左右的女性總結得很到位：讓我吃驚的是，職場竟如此爲男性所主導、由男人設計、爲男人服務，擁有一整套男性的文化和價值觀。

If you ask women, they can describe the behaviours they find disturbing.

如果你詢問女性，她們可以描述出讓她們覺得不安的種種行爲。

Many will say that their voice is not heard, they are interrupted or ignored in meetings; that much work takes place on the golf course, at football matches and other male-dominated events; that progress is not based on merit and women have to do better than men to succeed, and that questions are raised in selection processes about whether a woman is tough enough.

很多人會說，她們的意見無人聆聽，她們在會上被打斷或忽視；很多工作是在高爾夫球場、足球賽和其他男性主導的活動中進行的；職業進步不是基於成績，女性必須比男性做得更好才能成功，而在選拔過程中會有人提出這名女性是否夠堅強之類的問題。

In my experience, many women think it must be something wrong with them, and are mightily relieved that so many others have experienced the same thing.

根據我的經驗，很多女性都以爲這必定是自己的問題，而當聽到很多人都有類似經驗時都頗感寬慰。

It adds up to a confidence-sapping environment where what might seem to be small issues gradually wear women down so that they leave or lose any aspiration for advancement.

這一切形成了一個讓人信心動搖的環境，形形色色貌似的小問題逐漸讓女性心灰意冷，最終離開或喪失任何升職抱負。

After our survey, we began to wonder what men see of these workplace behaviours.

在這次調研之後，我們開始納悶男性是怎麼看待這些職場行爲的。

Reviewing the literature from management studies, psychology, and organisational sociology, we found very few studies about what men see.

在審議了管理學、心理學和組織社會學的文獻後，我們發現很少有關於男性看法的研究。

So we began interviews and workshops with men from public and private sectors and of different ages including, in the older group, senior men who had championed gender equality.

於是我們開始對公共部門和私營部門的不同年齡的男性進行訪談和開展研討，年紀較大的男性這一組包括一些曾倡導過性別平等的資深男士。

Most men think women only experience difficulties in the workplace with older men.

大多數男性都以爲，女性在職場中只有與年長男性相處時纔會遇到困難。

They were surprised that female colleagues reported experiencing some of these everyday behaviours from younger male colleagues.

他們意外地發現，女同事反映其中一些日常行爲來自年輕男同事。

The challenge with some older groups was to get them to focus on behaviours.

對於年紀稍長的人羣來說，挑戰在於讓他們關注行爲。

Senior leaders were more likely to leap to system change as a solution: We should get 50 per cent women at every level of the organisation and that will solve it.

高層領導們更傾向於一步到位的系統性改革作爲解決方案：我們應該在組織的各級管理層都安排至少50%的女性，這樣就能解決問題。

I certainly hope that will happen in the long term but it leaves the problem of women’s current experience of the workplace, which often stops them wanting to aim for more senior management and leadership roles.

我當然希望這在長期內終能實現，但女性在當下職場所面臨的問題仍未得到解決，這些問題往往阻礙她們嚮往更高層管理和領導者角色。

We need real changes in behaviour.

我們需要的是行爲上的真正改變。

It would be good if men and women could be more aware, for example, about what happens in meetings, making sure they speak up when women are ignored or patronised.

例如，最好是男性和女性都更多地意識到會上的情況，確保他們在女性被忽視或敷衍時仗義執言。

There should be more women in the chair, whatever level of the meeting.

不管是何種級別的會議，都應該由更多女性來主持。

It is also important that socialising and networking take place in the working day and not in the pub.

職業社交和交流應該發生在工作場所而非酒吧，這一點也很重要。

The best way to find out what women think is to ask them.

要想知道女性們怎麼想，最好的辦法是親自問問她們。

One effective way to do this is for younger women to reverse mentor senior men and describe to them what it feels like to be a young woman in the organisation.

其中一個有效的辦法是讓年輕女性擔任年長男性的反向導師，向他們描述作爲一名年輕女性在組織中會有什麼樣的感受。

None of this change is impossible, though the history of male power in the workplace means that it is not necessarily quick or easy.

所有這些改變都並非不可實現，儘管職場男權的歷史意味着這不一定能快速或輕易實現。

What we found most motivating to the men who took part in our workshops was collaborating with women to challenge and change typically masculine behaviour so that all employees are respected and given more space to shine.

在參與我們研討活動的男性中，我們發現最能激勵他們的做法，是跟女僱員一起挑戰和改變固有的男性化行爲，讓所有僱員都受到尊重，都有更多閃光的空間。

We might then find that more women are making their way to the top.

那時，我們可能會發現更多女性晉升至最高層。