商界之中:中国女人缘何比美国女人有地位

U.S. companies are lagging behind not just progressive Scandinavians but also businesses in emerging markets. Companies in countries just now shaping their economies have higher percentages of women business leaders than in the U.S.
全世界的企业都需要进一步对女性敞开大门。美国企业本应在这方面发挥带头作用。但它们并没有做到这一点。美国在这方面不仅落后于不断改进的斯堪的纳维亚半岛，也走在新兴市场后面。在经济刚刚成形的国家，女性在企业管理层所占的比重也要高于美国。

Not only does the U.S. lag behind several emerging market countries in terms of female leadership on company boards, but the gap extends to other executive roles. According to a 2013 report by Grant Thornton, only 20% of senior corporate leaders in the U.S. are women. Other G7 countries didn't fare so well either -- take Japan (7%) and the United Kingdom (19%).
和一些新兴市场国家相比，美国不仅女性董事长偏少，在其他管理职位上也存在差距。格兰特桑顿会计师事务所（Grant Thornton）今年公布的一份报告显示，在美国企业高级管理者中，女性只占20%。七国集团（G7）其他成员的表现也不算好——日本和英国的女性公司领导者比重分别为7%和19%。

The country with the most women in high places? China. Over half of corporate leaders in China are women. Estonia (40%), Vietnam (33%), and Botswana (32%) rank in the top 10.
哪个国家女性企业领导者所占的比重最高呢？中国。在中国，一半以上的公司管理者都是女性。排名前十的国家还包括爱沙尼亚（40%）、越南（33%）和博茨瓦纳（32%）。

"I'm surprised that they're making as much progress as they are, " says Erica O'Malley, a partner at Grant Thornton.
格兰特桑顿会计师事务所合伙人艾丽卡•奥马利说：“这些国家取得这么大的进步让我感到意外。”

How are these nations making such progress?
它们是怎样取得这样的进步呢？

First off, national cultures that may appear conservative on the surface are in fact more complex. In a 2012 paper called "Cultural constraints on the emergence of women as leaders, " authors Geoffrey Leonardelli and Soo Min Toh, both associate professors at the University of Toronto, explore the effects of cultural rigidity related to female leadership. So-called '"tight" cultures punish members of the group from deviating from cultural norms. In general, culturally inflexible countries do not support women leaders.
首先，表面上看似保守的国家文化实际上更加复杂。2012年，多伦多大学（University of Toronto）两位副教授杰弗里•莱昂纳尔德利和苏敏窦发表了一篇论文，题为《文化对女性成为领导者的制约》（Cultural constraints on the emergence of women as leaders）。文中探讨了文化成见对女性发挥领导作用的影响。他们指出，所谓的“紧绷型”文化会对偏离常态的成员进行惩罚。总的来说，文化弹性较低的国家都不支持女性成为领导者。