女性读MBA应受到鼓励

It seems many already have an opinion about the value of an MBA – “it is a cash cow” or “why don’t you just send some emails on LinkedIn, schmooze at networking cocktails, and take an online finance course?” I beg to differ, and I say that especially as a woman.

不少人似乎对MBA的价值已有定见——“它能让你挣大钱”，要不然就是“你干嘛不在领英上发发邮件、在社交酒会上聊聊天、再读一门线上的金融课程就好了?”这些想法我不敢苟同，尤其是作为一名女性来说。

Despite recent efforts by companies to recruit more women into the C-Suite, fewer women choose to pursue a post-graduate business degree compared with men. Out of my 327 peers at the University of Oxford’s Said Business School, for example, 36 per cent are female. And yet, while that number may seem low to some, it is still higher than other European MBA programmes. Workplace equality may have progressed over the past few decades, but the gendered workforce and misguided expectations on women persist.

即便近来企业努力聘用更多的女高管，但相较男性，选择攻读商科研究生学位的女性要少得多。例如，我在牛津大学(University of Oxford)赛德商学院(Said Business School)的327名同学中，女性只占36%。然而，虽然这个比例在一些人看来也许并不高，但这仍旧超过了欧洲其他院校的MBA课程。近几十年来职场性别平等或许有所进步，但是人们依然有区别地对待男女员工以及对女性抱着具有误导性的期望。

It seems intuitive to assume that one would be praised for working hard at one’s job while taking the initiative to earn a second degree. But as a young woman, I still encounter negativity for making my academic and career choices. Friends, co-workers, and family all ask why I have not settled down in one place to start a family? Why return to school for my second master’s degree?

人们似乎会凭直觉认定，谁要是一边努力工作一边积极攻读第二学位，那一定会受到赞许。但是，身为年轻女性，我仍然为自己在学业和事业上的选择承受着很多负能量。朋友、同事以及家人都在问我：为什么还不安定下来组建一个家庭?干吗还要回学校攻读第二个硕士学位?

I am committed to a successful career, yet I am often made to feel that such a decision is selfish. A female classmate and close friend of mine worked in London at the head office of a large bank, where she had been vocal about not wanting to get married or have children. Because of these choices she often experienced disdain when discussing her future, especially with other women.

我追求事业成功，但却经常被迫感到这样很自私。我的一位女同学兼好友在伦敦一家大银行的总部工作，她在公司已公开表示过自己不想结婚生子。因为这些选择，每当说到她的未来，她就常常被人家瞧不起，尤其是跟别的女性聊天时。

One evening we were having drinks after a debate at the Oxford Union when the topic of female leaders came up. The union has been around since 1823 and has hosted world leaders from Albert Einstein to Mother Theresa, and even Michael Jackson. The union bar, adorned with pictures of many of those faces, made for the perfect setting for us to discuss our aspirations and our sacrifices as future female leaders in the workforce.

一天晚上，在牛津辩论社(Oxford Union)的一场辩论结束后，大家聚在一起喝酒，聊起了女性当领导的话题。这个社团成立于1823年，许多世界名人来过这里，从阿尔伯特•爱因斯坦(Albert Einstein)到特蕾莎修女(Mother Theresa)，甚至还有迈克尔•杰克逊(Michael Jackson)。辩论社的酒吧里，布置着很多这些名人的照片，营造了一种绝佳的氛围，让我们可能畅所欲言，谈论自己想要成为职场女领导的抱负以及将要为此做出的牺牲。

The sentiment was echoed at a recent dinner party with other female Oxford MBA’ers, who admitted they opted to do the business qualification as a means to gain professional credibility that they lacked due not to ability or intellect, but to gender. While it is illegal, we have been asked in job interviews if we had a boyfriend or a family of our own – an indirect question to see if we were a maternity leave risk.

在最近的一个晚宴上，另外一些在牛津攻读MBA的女同学们对这个话题也是深有同感，她们承认选择来念这个商科学位是想藉此获得专业信誉，而她们欠缺专业信誉并不是因为能力或才智不足，而是性别所致。即使不合法，我们在面试时也屡被问及是否有男友或是否已成家——这种迂回的提问意在弄清我们会不会有休产假的风险。

My friend sees the MBA as a way to buy some time on our resumés – if employers see that we have just invested quite a bit of time and money into an extra degree, then they may not jump to the conclusion that all we want to do is have children. We may not be a “risk factor” because we are seen to be prioritising our careers.

我的朋友认为，MBA学位能够令招聘方多留意一下我们的简历——倘若雇主们看到我们投入了大量的时间和金钱去多读一个学位，那么他们也许就不会轻易断定我们只想要孩子。由于他们看到我们以事业为重，或许就不会再觉得我们是个“风险因素”。

The boys’ club will not dissolve overnight. But I hope as more women excel in the workplace and as the number of women earning their business degrees increases – by choice and not by necessity – the discourse will shift from that of surprise and judgment to that of praise and encouragement.

“男孩俱乐部”不会一夜之间消失。但我希望随着职场中出类拔萃的女性越来越多，以及获得商科学位的女性越来越多——出于自愿而非迫不得已——人们的态度将不再是惊讶和审视，而是赞赏和鼓励。