對女強人的十大誤解

No. 1: Ice Queen

誤解一：女強人都是冰皇后

Halley Bock, CEO of leadership and development training company Fierce, notes that the ruthless “ice queen” stereotype is rampant. Cultural depictions, like frigid magazine editor Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada (and her real-world counterpart Anna Wintour of Vogue) and back-stabbing boss Patty Hewes on Damages, paint successful women as unsympathetic power-mongers. It is, of course, a Catch-22. “A woman who shows emotion in the workplace is often cast as too fragile or unstable to lead,” Bock said. “A woman who shows no emotion and keeps it hyper-professional is icy and unfeminine. For many women, it can be a no-win situation.”

海利•伯克說，很多人都把成功女性看做冷酷無情的“冰皇后”.在影視文化作品中，成功女性被描繪成沒有同情心，只知道追求權力的形象，比如《穿普拉達的惡魔》一片中的雜志主編米蘭達(其原型是時尚雜志《Vogue》的主編溫圖爾)，還有法律懸疑劇《裂痕》中暗箭傷人的老板帕蒂-海渥絲。這是一種悖論，“女性如果在工作場合表現出個人情感，會被看做脆弱不可信任，如果不在工作中摻雜個人情感，表現的非常職業，又會被人說是缺乏溫柔冷冰冰。對很多女性來說，無論怎樣做都不討好。”

No. 2: Single and Lonely

誤解二：女強人既孤單又寂寞

Harvard lecturer Olivia Fox Cabane notes that the strong perception that powerful women are intimidating to men and will need to sacrifice their personal lives may stop women from going after power. Even those women who aren’t interested in marrying, face harsh judgments. Men get to be “bachelors” while women are reduced to “spinsters” and “old-maids.” In fact, when Janet Napolitano was nominated Secretary of Homeland Security, critics said her being single would allow her to “spend more time on the job.”

哈佛大學講師奧利維亞福克斯指出，“成功女性會令男性望而卻步，而且要犧牲個人生活”的普遍觀念，可能會使得女性停止追求事業上的成功。即便有的女性對婚姻不感興趣，也會面對尖刻的評論。那些未婚的男性被稱作“單身漢”，而未婚的女性會被稱作“老處女”或“老媽子”。事實上，當納波利塔諾被提名國土安全局局長時，有評論諷刺她說，單身的她會有更多時間用于工作。

No. 3: Tough

誤解三：女強人都是強硬派

The first female Executive Editor of The New York Times, Jill Abramson is anything but stereotypical. She had a hard-charging career as an investigative reporter at The Wall Street Journal and edited her way to the top of the Times masthead. She’s also a true-blood New Yorker and is writing a book about puppies. Despite her complexities, she must contend with being called “tough” and “brusque,” making the “she’s-tough stereotype” her least favorite. Said Abramson: “As an investigative reporter, I had tough standards and a formidable way of framing and reporting stories, but I don’t think of myself as a tough person.”

吉爾•艾布拉姆森是《紐約時報》的第一位女主編，她絕不是刻板之人。吉爾曾做過華爾街日報調查記者，她按照自己的想法來編輯時報刊頭。她也是一個地道的紐約人，目前正在寫一本關于小狗的書。有很多詞都可以用來形容她，但吉爾最不喜歡的詞就是“強硬”和“粗暴”，她說：“作為一個調查記者，我對撰寫報道有嚴格 的標準要求，但我不認為自己是一個強硬之人。”

No. 4: Weak

誤解四：“軟弱”你的名字叫女人

Costa Rica President Laura Chinchilla, the country’s first female leader, told me that successful women face typecasting largely because society is still adjusting to women’s recent decision-making power. Chinchilla believes the most pervasive stereotype is that women are “weak,” a perception that may stem from women’s greater desire to build a consensus. “We understand success not as the result of just one person but as the result of a team,” she said. “[It’s a] different way of dealing with power [that] is misunderstood as a kind of weakness.”

哥斯達黎加總統勞拉•欽奇利亞是該國的第一位女性領導人。她說成功女性之所以受刻板印象困擾，是因為這個社會還沒有適應女性掌管權力。她認為最普遍的刻板印象是：女性都很“軟弱”，人們之所以會有這種想法，可能是女性更愿意作出妥協達成共識。“女性更愿意追求團隊的成功，而不是個人勝利。”她說，“把這種處理權力的方式看做軟弱，是對女性的誤解。”

No. 5: Masculine

誤解五：“巾幗”必須男子氣十足

The notion that powerful women must be, lead and look like a man really aggravates Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund. In a video interview with FORBES she said–pumping her fist–she hates the idea that “you have to look like a businessman.” She admitted she sometimes feels the pressure to look the “right” way, but tries to resist not being “overly businesslike.”

成功女性行事要有男子氣概——這一說法令國際貨幣基金組織總裁拉加德大為光火。在福布斯的視頻采訪中，她揮舞著拳說她痛恨“必須打扮成商人模樣”這一說法。她承認自己有時會感受到“得體著裝”的壓力，但她盡量不打扮的“過于務實”。

No. 6: Conniving

誤解六：女人要靠“潛規則”

When NBC’s Curry first started her career, she was told she couldn’t be a news reporter because women had “no news judgment.” Now, she’s at the top of her game and says the stereotype that most offends her is “the idea that a woman can only be successful because she somehow connived or engineered her rise–that she could not rise simply because she was too good to be denied.” She has experienced it herself, saying that she gets asked if she “forced” NBC to give her the anchor job or if there was a “backroom deal.” Curry told me, “I find it really annoying.”

當NBC電視臺 的庫里剛開始她的職業生涯時，別人說她不可能成為一名新聞記者，因為女性“沒有新聞頭腦”。現在，她已經成為一名頂尖的新聞記者。她說最令她生氣的說法是“一個女性之所以能成功，靠的是潛規則，而不是她出色的工作能力。” 她自己就有這樣的經歷，有人問她是不是“強迫”電視臺給她新聞主播的工作，或者有沒有“幕后交易”。庫里說道：“這種說法實在令人惱火。”

No. 7: Emotional

誤解七：女人容易情緒化

Ellen Lubin-Sherman, executive coach and author of business guide The Essentials of Fabulous, believes one the most dangerous stereotypes female leaders will face is that they are prone toemotional outbursts. Despite Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s consistent cool-headed demeanor, when she teared up on the campaign trail, the media pounced. Similarly, former Yahoo Chief Carol Bartz is frequently cited for her “salty language,” which has been used as evidence that she is “emotional” and a “loose cannon.”

埃倫•魯賓•謝爾曼商業指導《完美要素》的作者和導師，在她看來，人們普遍認為女性領導人容易受到情緒影響。盡管國務卿希拉里•克林頓一向行事冷靜，當她在競選案中落淚時，媒體們一擁而上大做文章。同樣，人們說起前雅虎首席執行官卡羅爾•巴茨時常提到她的“不文明用語”，正因如此，人們把她看做是一個“情緒化的”“定時炸彈”。

No. 8: Angry

誤解八：女人豈能“憤怒”

“Anger is a sign of status in men, but when women show anger they are viewed as less competent,” said Young. First Lady Michelle Obama was condemned as an “angry black woman” when she was campaigning for her husband in the 2008 presidential election. The Harvard-trained lawyer conscientiously softened her image and speeches in order to be more “likable,” becoming better known for her fashion and her unending support of her husband than for her stance on political issues.“

憤怒是男性的專利，人們不能接受女性表現出憤怒的一面。”楊說。2008年，米歇爾•奧巴馬為丈夫的總統競選造勢時，這位第一夫人曾被譴責為“憤怒的黑人婦女”。后來，這位哈佛大學畢業的律師柔化自己的形象和演講，變得更加“討人喜歡”，突出表現自己的時尚品味和對丈夫的支持，而不是政治立場。

No. 9: A Token

誤解九：女人都是“花瓶”擺設

Women hold just 16% of corporate board seats. But instead of focusing on balancing things out, they are often devalued as being a “token” of diversity rather than having earned the post. Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was often the only woman in the room, but her gender didn’t get her there. “While companies take their diversity goals seriously, they are not going to settle for less than the best person for the job,” said Lynne Sarikas, director of the MBA career center at Northeastern University. “Women are hired because of their education and experience and what they can do for the company.”

女性在公司董事會所占席位只有總數的16%。人們并不關注女性在董事會所占比例過少這一事實，反而貶低董事會女性，認為她們之所以位列董事，不是因為她們的才能，她們只不過是公司出于多元化考慮而擺設的花瓶。美國前國務卿賴斯經常是重要場合里唯一的女性，她能勝任這一職位，靠的可不是她的性別。“即便公司真的是出于多元化考慮，但最終還是會選擇最適合這個職位的雇員。”美國東北大學MBA就業指導中心主任林恩說，“女性被錄用是因為她們的教育背景和職業經歷，以及她們所能為公司做出的貢獻。”

No. 10: A Cheerleader

誤解十：女強人如同“啦啦隊長”

Billie Blair, president and CEO of Change Strategists, notes that prominent women who are considered feminine and warm may be dismissed as “cheerleaders” rather than the strong leaders that they are. When former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was running for VP, Blair was amazed to hear a male client describe her as “a cheerleader, not a coach nor a quarterback.”

戰略家公司總裁兼首席執行官比利•布萊爾指出，溫柔熱情的成功女性常被看做是啦啦隊長，而不是杰出的領導者。前阿拉斯加州州長佩林競選副總統時，布萊爾很驚訝的聽到一個男客戶形容佩林“是一個啦啦隊長，而不是一個教練，也不是四分衛。”