全通翻譯/翻譯社

Critiquing the Lean Machine

If you've not heard about Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and her effortsto revolutionize the way women tackle gender inequality, then you need to start “leaning in” as her book advises.

Having outlined her ideas on how women unwittingly hold themselves back in an earlier TED talk, Sandberg presented a fully fledged manifesto with “Lean In.” Women, she contends, are habitually bad at asserting themselves, and this is manifested in their voices, body language and fear of speaking out. However, critics have argued that Sandberg is making women the scapegoat for what should be viewed as an institutional problem. 

The popularity of the book itself suggests that women are keen to make changes, but that they are often constrained by circumstances. Not every woman has the luxury of going straight back to work after childbirth as, for example, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer did after just two weeks. For some, the costs and logistics of childcare make a trade-off between career and parenthood inevitable. Rather than just telling women to lean in, we need to reevaluate gender roles. 

In response to these criticisms, Sandberg has pointed out that she is not saying that “leaning back” is never an option. On the contrary, at certain times it might be the right decision for an individual to take time out.


《 挺身而進》 ——看女性的社會地位與角色

你如果沒聽過臉書營運長雪柔．桑德伯格以及她為了 徹底改變女性對抗性別不平等的方式所付出的努力，那麼 你一定要如她的書所建議的，開始「挺身而進」。

在先前一場 TED 的演講中，桑德伯格概述了自己認為 女性總是在不知不覺中自我設限的觀點，她並以《挺身而 進》呈現一份內容完整的宣言。她指出，女性向來不善於 維護自己的權益，這點可從她們的聲音、肢體語言以及害 怕發言等處看到。然而，批評人士認為桑德伯格把女性當 成理應是制度問題的代罪羔羊。

由這本書的熱門程度，可見女性渴望改變，但卻常受 到環境的限制。舉例來說，不是每位女性都像雅虎執行長 梅莉莎．邁爾，擁有生產兩週後就重返工作崗位的餘裕。 對部分婦女而言，養育子女的成本與人力物力需求迫使她 們不得不在事業與親職之間有所取捨。與其只是告訴女性 挺身而進，我們更需要重新評估性別角色。

針對這些批評，桑德伯格指稱她並沒有說「後退一 步」絕對不是選項。相反的，在某些特定時刻，決定暫時 退出職場可能才是正確的決定。

資料來源：biz互動英語報