经济增长与性别平等

经济增长与性别平等

经济增长与性别平等有什么样的关系？在发达国家与新兴市场国家，女性的发展机会如何？什么样的政策可以促进女性的机会平等？FT助理总编Khalaf的这篇文章提供了一些重要的启示。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

composure 沉着

counterpart 相对应的事物/人

divergence 分歧，背驰

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Growth helps narrow gender gap in fast-growing economies

By Roula Khalaf, FT assistant and foreign editor

* * *

Women cheered, some men booed, but everyone took notice when Christine Lagarde quipped in 2010 that had Lehman Brothers been Lehman Sisters, the global financial crisis might have looked different.

It was only half a joke. As Ms Lagarde, France’s finance minister at the time and now head of the International Monetary Fund, later wrote: “When women are called to action in times of turbulence, it is often on account of their composure, sense of responsibility and great pragmatism in delicate situations.”

Perhaps surprisingly, it is an argument that emerging markets have recognised better than the developed world. Amid a growing international debate on bridging the gender gap, the rapid economic growth of emerging markets in recent years has greatly increased opportunities for women in business, giving them a boost over their counterparts in developed countries.

This would seem to contradict perceptions dominant in the west of women in developing nations. The more prevalent image is that tradition and social mores in many of these countries, as well as educational and economic disadvantages, limit women’s empowerment in business.

To some extent the perceptions reflect reality: although women lead Argentina, Brazil and Chile, 70% of executives in Latin America say family pressures cause women to leave their jobs, according to a survey by McKinsey, the consultancy.

In China, women are still expected to put their families first, an attitude reinforced by the one-child policy. Chinese women are also expected to take care of the elderly in the family.

“Observers in the west tend to see third-world women as victims,” write Sylvia Ann Hewlett and Ripa Rashid in their 2011 book Winning The War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women are the Solution. “In a similar vein, business leaders tend not to have women on their radar screen.

“The fact is that no company can afford to ignore highly qualified female talent if it wants to compete in these fast-expanding economies – and win,” the authors say.

According to Grant Thornton’s 2014 Women in Business report, which surveyed about 6,600 privately owned companies in 45 countries, the proportion of senior roles filled by women across the Brics countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) exceeds 30%, compared with about 20% in the G7 group of industrialised nations, and higher than the 24% global average. Some statistics are striking: in China more than 60% of chief financial officers are women.

Across the Brics, the percentage of companies that have no women in senior roles has fallen from 39% last year to 18% this year. In the boardroom too, women in emerging markets score better than the global average.

This special report sheds further light on that progress, with data showing that in China about 30% of entrepreneurs are women.

Six out of 24 self-made female billionaires worldwide on the Forbes 2013 list are from China (including Hong Kong), more than any other country outside the US.

In Turkey, meanwhile, 12% of chief executives are women, according to the World Bank, higher than the EU average.

“Emerging markets do seem really to value some of the things that women bring to boards and senior roles,” says Francesca Lagerberg, global head of tax at Grant Thornton.

“The approach to business is different and there’s a real recognition that innovation and creativity are sometimes more closely linked to female leaders.”

What lies behind the numbers? One factor is education: as the authors of Winning the War For Talent point out, women in emerging markets are graduating from universities and graduate schools at rates that match and often outstrip those of men.

Family and tradition can work to women’s advantage. In China, and in countries of the former Soviet Union, women’s participation in the labour force has been encouraged; in conservative societies close-knit extended families and affordable help can make it easier for women to work.

The need for women to contribute to the household income has been a driver of ambition – but more jobs also have been available.

Saadia Zahidi, head of gender parity and human capital at the World Economic Forum, says: “If you have large, fast-growing companies – say you go from 50 to 500 posts [in a company] – the need for talent overcomes barriers that may exist.”

Institutional backing for working women has also helped, with growing support for remote working arrangements, flexible hours and paid maternity leave.

Imposing quotas can be less controversial than in Europe. Ms Lagerberg says more and more business leaders in emerging markets say they back board quotas for women. “It’s telling that people engaged in this are beginning to see where it should go. It might be that quotas come in several years’ time, but business leaders are becoming more conscious about process,” she says.

There is still a long way to go. And the risk is that the progress achieved so far will not be accelerated as growth in emerging economies begins to slow.

Far too many women still face social pressures to leave their jobs after having children; their entrepreneurial drive is also stifled by constrained access to credit. The wage gap should also narrow. Even if they might receive equal pay to men when they join the labour force, women find the disparity widens as they move up the organisation.

Ms Lagerberg cites the need for more role models and mentoring to push women up the corporate ladder. “The more you see senior women in role modelling positions, the more you inspire others to come through. You need [mentoring] programmes with a specific diversity element.”

Other experts warn that improvements at the top do not necessarily mean progress at the bottom. The picture for senior women in emerging markets may be brighter than in the west, but women’s participation in the labour force is lower than in Europe or the US.

Ms Zahidi says that in rapidly growing economies such as Brazil, China and Indonesia, women are joining the labour force at relatively faster rates than men.

But in India, women’s participation in the workforce has risen only 4%, to 34%, in the past eight years. “In India, a policy was just passed [which means] all publicly listed companies have to have one female director on board ... and there’s a trend to get more women in leadership positions.

“But this is also the country where a lot of the poverty and illiteracy is concentrated among females,” Ms Zahidi says. “Because of cultural implications you see a divergence between low- and high-income women.”

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1. "Women cheered, some men booed, but everyone took notice when..."

What does "boo" mean?

a. cheer

b. offended

c. thumb up

d. scorn

2. What is the traditional view in the west about gender equality in emerging markets?(You may look back and do the scanning.)

a. Labour participation rates of women are irrelevant.

b. Educational inferiority hinders women's careers.

c. Lack of ambition of women is the main cause of gender gap.

d. The culture determines the role of women in the society.

3. What does China and other emerging economies have in common?

a. Women are joining the labour force faster than men.

b. More than 60% of chief financial officers are women.

c. The gender gap is closing both at the top and at the bottom.

d. They are imposing boardroom quotas for women.

4. What is most fundamental factor of bridging gender gap?

a. A growing economy that is hungry for talent.

b. People's mindset is changing about women's role.

c. More women have been elected as national leaders.

d. Remote working, flexible hours and paid maternity.

[1] 答案d. scorn

解释：第一句是说，拉加德说如果“雷曼兄弟”是“雷曼姐妹”公司的话，金融危机可能不那么严重了，一些女性对此欢呼，一些男性_____，但所有人都注意到了......这里显然应是喝倒彩的意思。

[2] 答案b. Educational inferiority hinders women's careers.

解释：如果你记不清具体内容但记得文中的大概位置，你就能在第四段看到This would seem to contradict perceptions dominant...这颠覆了传统的看法，转折后面一定是重要的。

[3] 答案a. Women are joining the labour force faster than men.

解释：在倒数第三段。BCD项都可以排除，B是只有中国，C是与事实相反，D主要存在于欧洲，文章最后几段一直在强调，新兴市场国家的中下阶层的女性，并没有像精英阶层的女性那样缩小了男女差距。

[4] 答案a. A growing economy that is hungry for talent.

解释：不难发现A是比较根本的要素，BCD则是衍生的现象，经济的增长一方面创造了大量的就业岗位，需要女性的加入；一方面，市场竞争奖励唯才是举，而惩罚偏见："the need for talent overcomes barriers that may exist","no company can afford to ignore highly qualified female talent if it wants to compete".因此，女性的人力资本投入增加，而社会角色和观念也在不断发生变化。