职场新概念英语：世界职场性别歧视远未结束

职场新概念英语：世界职场性别歧视远未结束

What is holding women back in the workplace? If you ask Kevin Roberts, the outgoing Saatchi & Saatchi chairman, the problem is women themselves. “Their ambition is not a

vertical ambition, it’s this intrinsic, circular ambition to be happy,” he said last week in an interview with Business Insider. A few days later, having been suspended by parent company Publicis, he admitted that he had “failed exceptionally fast” and announced he would resign.

职场中有哪些因素防碍着女性发展？如果你问盛世长城(Saatchi & Saatchi)即将离任的董事长凯文罗伯茨(Kevin Roberts)，他会回答问题在于女性本身。“她们的抱负不是纵向抱负，而是贪图快乐的那种

内在、绕圈的追求，”他在近期接受《商业内幕》(Business Insider)采访时表示。几天后，被母公司法国阳狮集团(Publicis)停职的他承

认自己“失败得太快”，并宣布将辞职。

It is superficially appealing to cast Mr Roberts as the victim of a feminist witch hunt. Surely he is a martyr who dared to speak the truth： that for many women it is the desire to have a work-life balance, rather than discrimination, that stops them reaching the top of their industry.

从表面来看，人们很容易把罗伯茨当作女权主义政治迫害的受害者。难道他不是一位敢于说实话的烈士吗：对很多女性来说，难道不是她

们对工作/生活平衡的渴望（而不是性别歧视）防碍着她们攀登事业巅峰？

But his comments went far beyond that. He denied that gender inequality was a problem at all —“the f***ing debate is

all over” — and accused British advertising consultant

Cindy Gallop of lying about sexual harassment in the industry. “I think she’s got problems that are of her own making,”

he claimed. “I think she’s making up a lot o f the stuff to create a profile, and to take applause.”

但是他的言论远远超出了这个范畴。他从根本上否认性别不平等是一

个问题——“这场该死的辩论已经结束”——并指责英国广告业咨询

顾问辛迪盖洛普(Cindy Gallop)在该行业性骚扰问题上撒谎。“我觉

得她的问题都是她自己搞出来的，”他声称，“我觉得她编造了很多

内容来建立一个形象，并得到掌声。”

Under such circumstances, it is unsurprising that Publicis moved against him： an advertising firm should know a bad advert for its business when it sees one. Sadiq Khan, mayor

or London, has banned “body shaming” posters on the

capital’s transport system; Unilever has pledged to spend

its ￡6.3bn annual marketing budget on ads that smash female stereotypes. Sex might still sell but sexism is out of fashion.

在这种环境下，阳狮倒戈罗伯茨也是意料之中的：广告公司应该一眼

看出对自身业务不利的广告。伦敦市长萨迪克汗(Sadiq Khan)禁止在

首都的交通系统内张贴“体形歧视”海报；联合利华(Unilever)承诺

将该公司63亿英镑的年度营销预算用于打破女性刻板印象的广告。性

可能还有市场，但是性别歧视已经过时了。

For outsiders, however, an honest conversation is always

more useful than knee-jerk condemnation. Mr Roberts’ comments are a reminder of three roadblocks on the path to gender equality at work： outdated attitudes; unhelpful structures; and a lack of data — a result of the casual dismissal of women’s experiences.