向前一步:第210期 让我们开始讨论吧(16)

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号：tingroom，领取免费英语资料大礼包。

Even today, mentioning gender² in work situations often makes people visibly uncomfortable. 直到今天，在工作场合提及性别问题，常常会让人们表现得很不自在，

To their credit, many institutions have worked hard to sensitize people to these issues, especially sexual harassment³. 这导致许多机构都很努力地让人们对这些问题（尤其是性骚扰）变得更加敏感。

But while human resources seminars can raise consciousness and help protect employees, 尽管人力资源研讨会可以增强员工的自我保护意识、帮助维护员工的权益，

they have also raised the specter of legal action, which can create real barriers to these conversations. 但竖起法律大旗的同时也造成了某种阴影，很可能会对这类变革造成真正的障碍。

The federal and state laws that are designed to protect employees against discrimination 目前，美国联邦政府和各个州都制定了相关法律，以保护员工不受歧视，

specify⁴ only that an employer cannot make decisions based on certain protected characteristics such as gender, pregnancy⁵, and age. 但只强调雇主不能基于某些被保护特征，如性别、怀孕和年龄等做出人事决定。

But companies usually take the policy a step further and teach managers not to ask anything related to these areas. 但是，公司方面常常会把这些规定执行得过了头，以致管理者在提问时绝对不敢涉及以上任何领域，

Anyone making even a benign⁶ inquiry⁷ such as "Are you married?" or "Do you have kids?" 甚至连善意地问一句“你结婚了吗”或者“你有孩子吗”

can later be accused of basing a personnel decision on this information. 都会在此后发生人事变动时被指责利用了这些信息。

As a result, a manager who is trying to help a female employee by pointing out a gender-driven style difference could be charged with discrimination for doing so. 那么一位经理本想帮助一位女员工，告诉她行事风格不同是因为男女有异，这就可能会被指控为他有性别歧视。

The first time I asked a prospective⁸ employee if she was considering having children soon, 当我第一次问一个很有潜力的女性员工是否考虑马上要孩子时，

I understood that doing so could expose me and my company to legal risk. 我就很清楚这么做可能会让自己和公司面临法律风险。

Unlike many women, I was in a position to evaluate that risk and chose to take it. 和许多女性不一样，我的职位让我能够去考虑到这样的风险，并敢于去挑战它。

 

分享到：