How to design gender bias out of your workplace | Sara Sanford

Transcriber: Ivana Korom Reviewer: Joanna Pietrulewicz

翻译人员: Yangyuege Li

A few years ago,

几年前，

I had a corporate feminist dream job.

我有一份任何女权主义者 都梦寐以求的工作。

Launching a company's national initiative

为一家公司推出全球性计划，

to recruit more female employees.

为金融部门

In the finance sector.

招聘更多的女性员工。

But first, I had to get the signed-off support

但是首先，我必须得到

of all department heads.

所有部门领导的签字支持。

So I spent months perfecting the proposal,

所以我花了数月的时间 去完善申请计划书，

presented it

当众提出，

and won the support of almost everyone.

并得到了几乎在场所有人的支持。

But in this team, there were two men we'll call Howard and Tom.

但在这些人中， 有两个叫霍华德和汤姆的人。

Howard just would not get back to me.

霍华德就是迟迟不给我回信。

I emailed him about the proposal,

为了这件事，我给他发过电子邮件，

I left him voice mails,

给他留了语音信箱，

I'd roll my chair back and forth during meetings,

在会议期间我甚至前后摇晃我的椅子，

trying to make eye contact with Howard.

就为了能和霍华德有眼神交流。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

He'd just take out his phone and start scrolling.

而他只是拿出手机不停上下翻看。

And then I started to question myself.

然后我便开始质疑我自己，

Had I been diplomatic enough in that email?

难道我在那封邮件里 表现得不够圆滑？

Too demanding in that voice mail?

还是在语音留言时 语气太强势苛刻？

Does Howard hate this proposal

是霍华德不喜欢这个建议，

or am I just overreacting?

还是说只是我想多了？

It's probably just me, I thought.

我一直认为是我自己的问题。

And then one day,

然后有一天，

I'm walking down the hall and here comes Howard.

我在走廊碰见了霍华德。

He's holding a packet of papers,

他手里正拿着一打文件，

sees me and lights up.

看见我后便面露喜色。

He says,

他说，

“萨拉，汤姆刚刚给我发了个邮件， 我觉得你应该看看。

"Sara, Tom just emailed this to me, you should take a look.

It's a proposal for us to recruit more women."

是关于让我们招募更多女性的提案。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

"I think Tom has a really great idea here,

“我觉得汤姆这个点子实在是太妙了，

and we should all get behind it."

我们就应该这么做。”

Howard proceeds to hand my own proposal back to me.

随后霍华德把 我自己的计划书递给了我，

And explains to me the many merits of what I wrote.

并向我介绍了 我自己写的计划书有多么好。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Howard was never against recruiting more women.

霍华德从来没有 反对过招募更多女性，

But he needed to hear from a man

但是他却需要从一个男性那里听到

why it was important to hire more women.

为什么招募更多女生是非常重要的。

And as this scene played out,

关于这件事，

I said nothing.

我什么都没说。

Because I knew somehow that I was a guest

因为我多多少少知道了， 我只是一个过客，

in a place that wasn't meant for me.

在一个不属于我的地方。

And so instead of questioning my environment,

所以与其质疑我所处的环境，

I questioned myself.

不如索性问问自己。

I wanted to know

我想知道，

how so many talented women who worked long hours

有多少吃苦耐劳且才华横溢的女性，

and started their careers with confidence

充满自信的开始了自己的职业生涯，

all became trained in this kind of self-doubt that makes them say,

但最后都开始质疑自己， 并总是觉得

"It's probably just me."

“可能是我的错吧。”

How was that still possible?

这怎么可能呢？

Aren't things getting better?

所有的一切不是变得越来越好了么？

Opportunities for women have increased over the last 50 years.

在过去的五十年里， 女性获得的机会不断增加。

But over the last decade, progress has stalled.

但在过去的十年里， 这种进展突然停滞了。

Experts have previously identified 2059

有专家曾把 2059 年

as the year the wage gap would close.

定义为进入无工资差距的一年。

But in September of this year,

但就在今年的九月，

these same experts announced that according to the most current data,

这些专家又根据最新的数据宣布，

we'll have to adjust our expectations

预期时间需要重新调整，

to the year 2119.

变为 2119 年。

(Audience murmurs)

（观众低呼）

One hundred one years from now.

距离现在整整一百年。

Looking beyond the wage gap,

抛开工资差距不谈，

women are still underrepresented in leadership,

在领导阶层的女性代表仍然不多。

receive less access to senior leaders

她们很少有机会成为高层领导，

and are leaving the fastest-growing sectors,

并逐渐退出了那些有前景的部门，

such as tech,

比如说科技，

at 45 percent higher rates than men,

这一比例比男性高了 45%，

citing culture as the primary reason.

而其背后的原因主要是文化。

So what have we been doing to address gender inequality?

那么，我们是怎么应对 性别不平等问题的呢？

Why isn't it working?

为什么那些努力都没有起到作用？

Many businesses think they're addressing the problem,

许多公司认为 他们正在着手于这个问题，

because they provide training.

因为他们提供了相关培训。

Eight billion dollars worth of training a year,

《哈佛商业评论》的研究也表明，

according to studies from the "Harvard Business Review."

这些公司在培训上 每年要花费 80 亿美元。

These same studies also conclude that these trainings don't work

这项研究同时表明了 那些所谓的培训并不管用，

and often backfire.

而且往往会适得其反。

Research tracking the hiring and promotion practices of 830 companies

在跟踪调查 830 家公司的 招聘和晋升情况后，

over the course of 30 years

研究发现，在过去的三十年里，

found that white men who are asked to go to diversity trainings

被要求参加多元化培训的白人男性

tend to rebel

往往会倾向于反抗，

by hiring and promoting fewer women

最后选择招聘和晋升更少的女性

and fewer minorities.

和更少的少数群体成员。

The other solution has been to ask women to change their own behavior.

另一种解决办法， 就是要求女性改变自己的行为，

To lean in.

去完善自己，

To sit at the table.

去坐在会议桌旁，

Negotiate as often as men.

像男人那样去谈判。

Oh, and get more training.

噢对了，还要接受更多的训练。

Women currently earn the majority of college degrees,

目前大多数大学毕业生都是女性，

outperform their peers in key leadership skills

她们比同龄人拥有更出色的领导技能，

and are running businesses that outperform the competition.

并且她们经营的公司 也比竞争对手的更出色。

It doesn't look like education

这看起来不像是教育、

or skills or business acumen are the problem.

技能或是商业头脑之类的问题。

We're already empowered.

我们已经拥有了很多权力，

Enough to make an impact on the businesses that are ready.

足以对现有的企业产生深远的影响。

These approaches fail to address the key systemic problem:

但这些都无法解决关键性的体制问题：

Unconscious bias.

无意识的偏见。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

We all have bias, it's OK.

我们都会有偏见，这很正常。

It's lodged in our amygdala,

它存在于我们大脑的杏仁核中，

it keeps ticking away when we go to work.

在我们工作时不停地运作。

Bias affects how much I like you,

偏见会影响我喜欢你的程度，

what I believe you're capable of

我相信你能胜任的事情，

and even how much space I think you take up.

甚至是我认为你占用了多少的空间。

Thanks in part to the Me Too movement,

得益于 MeToo 运动，

awareness of gender bias has spread.

对性别偏见的认知得到了广泛传播。

But the harassment stories that made headlines

但占据头条新闻的骚扰事件

are just one piece.

仅仅是其中一小部分。

You don't have to harass a woman to limit her career.

你大可不必为了限制 一个女人的事业而去骚扰她。

The messages women send me aren't about being harassed.

那些女性给我发的消息 并不是关于骚扰的，

They're being tolerated in the workplace.

而是她们在工作中被百般“宽容”，

But they're not being valued.

但她们的价值却总是被轻视。

I don't know anyone who has ever said,

我不记得有人说过，

"You know what I love about my employer?

“你知道我最喜欢我老板什么吗？

They just tolerate me so well,

他们简直对我太宽容了，

I feel so tolerated."

真是让我受宠若惊。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

To break the inertia,

为了打破僵局，

we need to take a step beyond Me Too.

我们需要尝试超越 Me Too 运动，

Beyond just being tolerated as women.

超越因身为女性而被容忍的局面。

Our organization decided to tackle the problem in two ways.

我们的组织决定 用两个方法来解决这个问题。

First, if we're all biased,

首先，如果我们都有偏见的话，

our workplaces need to be actively antibiased by design,

在设计工作场所时 就要积极地铲除偏见，

not by trying to change mindsets one training at a time.

而不是通过一次次的训练 来改变思维模式。

So our team began by identifying over 100 cultural levers

因此，我们的团队首先确定了 超过 100 种文化特性，

that can be adjusted to counter the impact of bias.

通过调整它们来抵消偏见的影响。

We found that small tweaks can lead to big changes.

我们发现小的调整便能扭转大局，

And they cost a lot less than eight billion dollars.

且费用远远低于 80 亿美金。

So what do these small tweaks look like?

那么是什么样的小调整呢？

If a woman is asked to state her gender

如果一位女性在填写工作申请表前，

before filling out a job application,

或者在进行技能相关的测试时，

or performing a skills-related test,

被要求告知自己的性别，

she performs worse than if she were not asked first.

她们往往会比在没被要求 提供该信息时表现得更差。

So how can businesses avoid activating this self-stereotyping bias?

那么，企业如何才能避免产生这种 自我刻板印象的偏见呢?

Move the gender check box to the end of the application.

那就是将性别勾选框放在申请表的最后。

Example two.

第二个例子。

In a national survey that we conducted,

在我们进行的一项全国性调查中，

men were 50 percent more likely to state

超过 50% 的男性表示，

they had received multiple, frequent evaluations

在过去的一年里，他们收到了

over the course of the last year.

多次、频繁的评估，

As opposed to one single yearly review.

而不是所谓一年一次的评估。

Here's why this matters.

现在我们来看看为什么这很重要。

"Fortune" magazine reviewed performance evals across industries.

《财富》杂志曾对 各行各业的表现进行过评估，

And found that criticism like this related to personality,

结果发现这类批评:【“注意你的语气！”】， 【“你有点咄咄逼人。”】

【“你可以表现得更温和一点。”】，

["Watch your tone!"]

but not job-related skills,

更多与个人性格有关， 但与工作技能无关。

appeared in 71 of the 94 yearly reviews received by women.

在女性收到的 94 份年度评估中， 有 71 份都可以看得到这类评语。

Of the 83 reviews received by men,

而在男性的 83 份年度评估中，

personality criticism showed up twice.

关于个人性格的评估只出现了两次。

But in businesses that conduct much shorter, highly frequent reviews,

但在那些倾向于进行更短、 更频繁的评估的企业中，

say, five-minute weekly evaluations

比如，每周五分钟的评估，

focused on specific projects,

更关注于某些具体项目，

the personality criticism vanishes.

那些对于个人性格的评估消失不见了。

And the perceived performance gap between men and women

男女之间能感受到的技能差距

is nearly nonexistent.

也几乎不存在了。

While yearly reviews rely on overall impressions,

虽然年度评估依赖于总体印象，

which are like petri dishes for bias,

就像偏见的培养皿一般，

short, objectively focused evaluations

但短小、客观的评估，

eliminate this feelings-based gray area.

却消除了这种 只凭感觉做判断的灰色地带。

Now, some businesses are consciously taking these steps

现在，有些企业 正有意地采取这些步骤，

to counter the impact of bias,

去应对偏见带来的影响，

while others just do a good job of advertising.

而其他企业只是借此来做做广告而已。

We wanted to find out who is actually getting it right.

我们想知道到底谁的做法是正确的。

So we put a poll on Facebook,

因此，我们在脸书上做了调查，

we asked women in workshops

我们询问了一些新晋的职场女性，

how they were choosing employers where they would be valued.

她们是如何选择 最看重她们价值的老板的。

The most common response that we heard?

知道我们得到最多的回答是什么吗？

"I Google it."

“我上网搜的。”

So we googled it.

所以我们也上网搜了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Specifically, we googled "best employers for women in tech."

准确来说，我们搜的是 “科技领域中对女性最好的老板。”

Our results showed three completely different lists.

我们的搜索结果显示了 三个截然不同的名单。

One business shows up as the top employer on one list,

在一份最佳雇主名单上名列前茅的企业，

doesn't show up at all on another,

却在其他名单上毫无踪影。

some lists offer no criteria

有些压根就没有评选标准，

and some are purchased ads.

而有些就是来打广告的。

They're paid for.

这类名单的搜索排名是买来的。

Employees and employers both want clear benchmarks

员工和雇主都需要了解

that go beyond good intentions.

超越良好意图之外的明确基准。

The LEED certification gave businesses this clarity

领先能源与环境设计（LEED）认证系统

around environmental stewardship

就通过明确列举出需要采取的步骤，

by outlining the exact steps they need to take for certification.

为企业提供了 关于企业环境管理的基准。

We wanted businesses to have this kind of playbook for gender equity.

我们希望各个公司也能拥有这种 类似的关于性别平等的指导手册。

So for our second act,

所以我们的下一步，

we took what we had learned from testing these cultural levers,

便是利用我们从测试 这些文化特征中学到的东西，

we partnered with the University of Washington

与华盛顿大学合作，

and created the first standardized certification

并创建了关于美国企业性别平等的

for gender equity in US businesses.

第一个标准认证。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）

To create this standard,

为了创建这个标准，

we had to learn what matters and what doesn't.

我们需要知道什么是重要的，什么不是。

We found out that what matters

我们发现重点

is not the total percentage of female employees.

并不是公司中女员工的总比例，

Or the number of board members that are female.

或是董事会中女性的比例。

Those are what we call vanity metrics.

我们把这些叫做“虚荣心指标”。

They can be bought,

它们用金钱就能买来，

while the culture inside can still be out of balance.

但公司内部的文化依旧是不平衡的。

The factors that matter and that should be measured

那些重要并且需要去评估的，

are under the surface.

是埋藏在表面之下的东西。

For example,

比如说，

even in organizations where equal percentages of women and men

即便是在一家公司中， 相同比例的男女员工说

state that they have had access to a mentor,

他们有过与导师接触的机会，

men's mentors are more likely to be in senior positions.

但男性更可能分配到高职位的导师。

Reviewing our survey results,

回顾我们的调查结果，

men were twice as likely to state

表示自己有机会

they had been offered an opportunity to shadow someone in a senior role.

跟随高层领导学习的 男性数量是女性的两倍。

We're all used to hearing about the wage gap.

我们常常听人提起工资差异。

Hidden opportunity gaps like these are just as influential.

像这种潜在的机会差异 也具有同样的影响。

So when assessing a company's culture,

所以当评估一个企业的文化时，

we measure these gaps between men's and women's experiences.

我们会去测量男女之间的 这种经历上的差距。

And the smaller the gap,

差距越小，

the more equity is center of the culture.

该公司的文化核心就越平等。

We also searched our findings

我们还搜索了

for the tenets of workplace culture

对男性和女性来说

that are most important to men and most important to women.

都最重要的职场文化原则。

We learned that only three factors consistently matter to men,

我们发现，对男性来说， 最重要的只有三个因素，

while a dozen matter to women.

但对于女性最重要的却有十几个，

And they only share one in common.

而二者共同关注的因素只有一个。

Topping the list for women:

女性最重视的是：

Paid family leave,

带薪产假，

health care for dependents

家属的医疗保险

and feeling that their ideas are heard

以及感受到她们的想法被听见，

and they're properly credited for them.

并且因此受到应有的肯定。

These are a few of the 188 indicators

这只是衡量一个企业

that determine whether or not an organization

是否达到工作场所性别平等

meets our quantitative standard for workplace equality.

这一基本标准的 188 个指标中的一小部分。

Based on the data that matter.

这些都是根据 相关的重要数据总结出来的。

These are the factors

这些才是能创造出

to create a culture of equity that lasts.

持续性平等文化的因素。

Not just for a month or for a quarter

这些因素不只是 持续一个月或一个季度，

but for years.

而是会持续数年之久。

So where does this leave us?

那么这说明什么呢？

Women in the workforce today are constantly told,

如今，女性在工作场所不断被灌输

"You can be anything you want now.

“你现在就可以变成你喜欢的样子。

It's up to you."

决定权在你手上。”

Women of color,

那些与男性资薪差距更大的

for whom the wage gap is even larger,

非白人女性

have heard it.

也听到过这种话。

The two-thirds of minimum-wage workers who are women have heard it.

在低收入的女性中， 三分之二的人都听到过。

Workers who don't identify as male or female

那些没有表明性别，

and hide their identity at work

并隐藏自己身份的工作者

have heard it.

也曾听过这类话。

If they can hear, "You can be anything you want now,

如果她们能够听到， “你可以变成任何你喜欢的样子，

it's up to you,"

决定权在你手上”，

I believe it's time for our businesses to hear it, too.

我相信，也是时候 让所有企业都听到这句话了。

Eliminating workplace bias is a tall order.

消除工作场所的偏见 是一个艰巨的任务。

But we can't afford to let half our people go on

但我们承担不起让足足一半的人

being ignored.

再继续被忽视的后果。

We've given businesses a framework for real change.

我们已经提供了让企业 发生切实改变的框架。

Businesses can be anything they want now.

现在，企业也能成为 任何它们想成为的样子。

It is up to them.

选择权在它们手上。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）