双语时事系列61:女性低估自身工作表现

2009-10-23 00:00:00来源：网络

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双语时事：女性低估自身工作表现

What do your co-workers think of your performance on the job?

If you're a woman, you're three times more likely than a man to answer that question wrong.

Women handicap themselves on the job by chronically underrating their standing with bosses and co-workers, says a new study slated for presentation next month to the Academy of Management's annual meeting. When asked to predict how they were rated by managers, direct reports and peers, women were significantly poorer at predicting others' ratings than men, says the study of 251 managers by Scott Taylor of the University of New Mexico.

A lack of self-confidence isn't the problem. The women surveyed thought highly of themselves compared with men in the study. But the females simply believed others regarded them as far less competent than they actually did, on a wide range of social and emotional skills related to leadership, according to the study. The ratings encompassed a wide range of attributes, from communication and conflict management to trustworthiness and teamwork.

Overall, averaging all the ratings, the gap between prediction and reality was three times greater for women than for men. 'Women are so accustomed to decades of being 'disappeared'' or ignored, 'and to hearing histories of women whose contributions went unnoticed, that they assume these conditions exist to the same extent today,' Dr. Taylor says.

A few companies, of course, have fair, transparent, performance-based compensation systems that eliminate gender inequities.

But at most employers, expecting to be devalued can exact a big toll. A friend of mine says she underestimated her standing at work for years and paid a high price in her paycheck. She started at a low-paid entry-level job at her company and advanced quickly up the ladder. But she didn't ask for a raise for several years, only to find out later that she was making 50% less than peers with similar or less experience.

'It came as a shock when I discovered how underpaid I was,' she says. 'I really shot myself in the foot by not being a self-promoter.' The lesson: If your employer lacks a systematic comp policy, 'you really have to self-promote and lobby for yourself if you care about your career or salary advancement,' my friend says.

My male peers have pointed out my own blind spots in this regard. Years ago, when I first learned how much a female executive at my company was paid, I marveled, 'Wow, that's a lot.' The male colleague who told me roared with laughter. 'You think that's a lot?' he asked me incredulously. 'That's half what men at her level make.'

Readers, do you have trouble promoting yourselves? Do you see women around you undervaluing their contributions? Does your workplace have transparent, performance-based advancement or compensation systems that help eliminate gender inequities? Or do workers of both genders have to do a lot of self-promotion to get ahead?

你的同事认为你的工作表现如何？

如果你是女性，那你答错这个问题的机率是男性的3倍。

将在管理学会(Academy of Management)下个月举行的年会上提交的一项新研究表明，女性习惯性地低估自己在老板和同事心目中的地位，从而阻碍了自己的事业发展。新墨西哥大学(University of New Mexico)的泰勒(Scott Taylor)对251名管理人员进行的研究发现，当被要求预测上司、直接领导和同事给自己的评分时，女性预测的准确度远远不如男性。

问题不在于缺乏自信。受调查者中，女性比男性对自己评价更高。但研究显示，她们就是觉得自己与领导能力相关的众多社会和情感技能被别人极大地低估了。评分包括交流沟通、处理冲突、可信度和团队合作等多方面的特质。

总体上看，将所有评分平均下来，女性的预测和现实之间的差距是男性的三倍。泰勒说，女性几十年来习惯了被忽视，总是听到有关女性的成绩被忽略的陈年旧事，因此她们以为这些情况现在依然如故。

当然，一些公司拥有公正、透明、基于工作表现的奖励系统，消除了性别歧视。

但在大多数公司里，觉得自己受低估可能会付出很高的代价。我的一位朋友说，她多年来一直低估自己在工作中的地位，为此在薪资方面损失惨重。她在公司从低薪的入门级职位干起，升职很快。但她几年都没有要求加薪，最后才发现资历跟她相同或不如她的同事挣得比她多一半。

她说，当我发现自己的薪水有多低时，简直太吃惊了，我自己不去要求，这真是自作自受。我朋友说，这件事的教训是：如果你的雇主没有系统的薪酬制度，那你要是关心自己的事业或薪水长进，就得自力更生，替自己说话。

我的一些男同事曾经指出我在这方面的盲点。多年前我首次得知公司里的女性管理人员的薪水时，我惊叹道，哇，真是太高了。告诉我这件事的男同事大笑起来。他怀疑地问，你真觉得很多吗？这只是她那个级别的男主管薪水的一半。

读者们，你在宣传自己这方面遇到过问题吗？你周围的女性有没有低估自己的成就？你所在的公司是否有可帮助消除性别歧视的透明的、基于工作表现的晋升或薪资体系？抑或无论男女，员工都必须进行大量的自我宣传才能成功？

本文选自上海新东方学校惠瑾的博客，博客链接地址：http://blog.hjenglish.com/huijin