Companies should not need to be persuaded to give women equal treatment. Talent no more discriminates¹ between the genders² than it does with respect to race or creed³. Any employer that did so would hobble its ability to hire the best candidate. This is not just bad business but an unfair denial of opportunity.

没必要谆谆善诱地引导企业对女性平等相待。男女在才能方面没有差异，正如不同种族或信仰不同宗教的人在才能方面没有差异一样。在招人时歧视女性，不利于雇主招到最好的人选。这不仅对企业不划算，也不公平地剥夺了女性的机会。In a rational world half of senior jobs would go to women. Britain remains⁴ a long way from this. Women occupy only a fifth of positions at the level of managing director in the City. It is not just a problem of the financial sector⁵: only 18 per cent of women become a partner in a law firm, less than a third a senior medical consultant⁶ and a tenth a university professor.

在合理的世界里，应有一半的高管职位由女性担任。英国离这个目标还很远。在伦敦金融城，执行董事级别的职位只有五分之一由女性担任。这个问题不只存在于金融业：律所合伙人中女性只占18%，高级外科医生中这个比例不到三分之一，大学教授中这个比例不到十分之一。

Opposing discrimination is not the same as pronouncing everyone the same. But this argues for more not less equal treatment. A prominent report on the subject argued that “women bring different perspectives and voices to the table, to the debate and to the decisions”. Studies confirm that diversity is associated with better financial returns. Companies dominated by men suffer a disadvantage, given that half of their customers and staff may be female. They also risk perpetuating⁷ a cycle in which an overly male workplace deters⁸ women from applying.

反对歧视并不等于宣称男女完全一样。但性别差异是促使我们对女性平等相待（而不是歧视女性）的理由。一份关于这个问题的著名报告指出，“女性为讨论方案、为辩论、为决策带来不同的视角和声音”。研究证实，多样性与更高的金融回报是相关的。由男性主导的企业处于一种劣势，因为他们的一半客户和员工可能都是女性。这样的企业还面临陷入永久恶性循环的风险：一个过度男性化的工作场所会吓跑原本想要来求职的女性。

Governments recognise the problem but do not agree on what to do about it. On one side are those that believe in statutory quotas¹⁰ for women on company boards. Norway introduced a 40 per cent target in 2003, and has almost reached it. Germany recently overcame business opposition¹¹ in legislating¹² for a 30 per cent quota⁹ on supervisory boards. The Swiss may go further, insisting that such a target applies to all senior management roles.

各国政府都认识到了这个问题，但对于如何解决这个问题，大家意见不一。一派观点认为，应该强制规定企业董事会中女性所占比例。挪威在2003年设置了40%的目标比例，眼下这个目标已接近实现。德国最近克服了企业界的反对，立法规定监事会女性比例至少要达到30%。瑞士可能更进一步，要求所有高级管理职位都适用这一比例。

The case against quotas is that they are both unfair and ineffective. All jobs should be determined¹³ on merit — the task should be to get women into the interview room. A study of Norway found that improvements at the top had not spread elsewhere. Throughout Europe, the proportion of women in senior executive positions still lags far behind those on boards. Quotas could even prove counterproductive if they create the perception of tokenism, which casts a cloud of suspicion on everyone who earned their promotion¹⁴, particularly senior women.

反对设置强制比例的一派则认为，这种规定既不公平，效果又差。所有职位都应任人唯贤，我们的任务应该是让女性获得面试机会。挪威的一项调查发现，顶层职位在消除性别歧视方面取得的进步并没有扩展到其他地方。在整个欧洲，高管职位层面的女性比例仍然远低于董事会中的女性比例。如果强制比例让人产生装点门面的感觉，那就可能适得其反，会连累那些凭真才实学获得升职的女性（特别是高管中的女性）受到无理由的猜疑。

The UK government dislikes statutory quotas and has instead set a broad target of 25 per cent female representation on company boards. The bully¹⁵ pulpit may have helped; last year, under pressure from Vince Cable, the business secretary, mining company Glencore became the last company to appoint a female director.

英国政府对设置强制比例的想法不太热衷，转而设置了一个宽泛的目标——企业董事会中女性占25%。政府的强力说教或许有所帮助。去年，迫于来自英国商务大臣文斯•凯布尔(Vince Cable)的压力，富时100(FTSE 100)成分股公司中最后一家没有女性董事的公司、矿商嘉能可(Glencore)也任命了一名女性董事。

Further progress requires a larger pipeline¹⁶ of women ascending¹⁷ the executive ranks. Until the age of 30 women tend to keep pace with men. The gap opens with the arrival of family life. Even though social norms are changing, women are still more likely to seek flexibility¹⁸ at work and their careers too often falter¹⁹. Companies have been too slow to take advantage of technological²⁰ advances that enable flexible work. This needs to change. Another idea, pioneered by banks, is to scour²¹ lists of female alumni on a career break in order to entice²² them back into senior roles.

要想在这一问题上取得进一步进展，就需要有更多女性进入高管行列。在30岁之前，女性在职场上通常与男性齐头并进。有孩子之后，女性与男性的差距产生。尽管社会规范在变化，但女性仍更有可能寻求工作中的灵活性，她们的事业太多时候变得磕磕绊绊。在利用技术进步让工作方式变得更灵活方面，企业的行动一直过于迟缓。这种情况必须改变。另一个由银行率先提出的想法是，在正处于职业中断期的女性前员工中物色人选，吸引她们回到职场担任高级职位。

Social change can be glacially slow. It is barely 40 years since British female civil servants had to retire upon marriage. Proper equality may be achieved only once men become fully²³ comfortable taking on the role of primary carer. In the meantime, it is up to corporate²⁴ Britain to give the process a kick-start by making this a natural, convenient option. Firms that preach about people being their greatest asset should start seeing a crèche as an investment, not a perk²⁵.

社会的变化可能非常慢。英国女性公务员一结婚就得退休的日子距今也只不过40年。可能只有当男性坦然接受由他们担当孩子的主要照料者时，真正的男女平等才会实现。与此同时，开启这一进程的任务落在英国商界身上，他们要让男人看孩子成为一种自然、方便的选择。那些鼓吹自己最重要的资产是人才的企业，应该开始将建立日托所视为一项投资，而非一种特殊福利。