新视野 Book 2 Unit 7 Text A Women: Making a difference
 
Unit 7 Women: Making a difference 第七单元：女性在现代社会地位已改变
Text A Women at the management level 课文 A 女性管理者

When Monica applied for a job as an administrative assistant in 1971, she was asked whether she would rather work for a male or a female attorney. "I immediately said a man," she says. "I felt that a male-boss / female-employee relationship was more natural, needing no personalaccommodation whatsoever." But 20 years later, when she was asked the same question, she said, "I was pleasantly surprised that female bosses are much more accessible to their employees; they're much more sensitive and intimate with their employees."
 
Female bosses today are still finding they face subtle resistance. There is still a segment of the population, both men and, surprisingly, women who report low tolerance for female bosses. Thegrowing presence of female bosses has also provoked two major questions that revolve around styles: Do men and women manage differently, and, if so, is that a good thing?
 
Monica is disposed to think so, on both counts. Now a 40-year-old mother of four, she ispresident of a public sector labor union with 45,000 members. "Relations with my employees are probably different from those of male managers preceding me," she says. "I know what it's like to have to call and say my kid got the mumps so I won't be coming in. I have a more flexible style - not soft, just more understanding." The man who is Monica's assistant agrees, "She tends to delegate more and is always looking for a consensus. People are happy and flourishbecause they have an input into decisions and they are not mere bystanders; their energies are harnessed. On the other hand, consensus takes longer."
 
 
So, are the differences symbolic or real? Plausible studies suggest that men are typicallyhierarchical, goal-oriented and feel entitled. Women, by contrast, manage diplomatically, and share power. That point of view is often challenged and argued. Some proclaim that men and women of similar backgrounds, experience and aspirations basically manage in the same way. This view is echoed by younger women, especially those who have encountered little gender discrimination. That was certainly the lesson for Nicole. When her father died of a heart attack, she was an employee at a petroleum products export company. She quit and took overher family's 160-acre fruit farm in St. Davids County. On her first day in the field, a worker called her "darling". "He was trying to test me. I was shaking with anger," says Nicole, now 34. "I stooderect and said, 'You wouldn't have called my father darling and you're not going to take that liberty with me. If you do, I'll fire you.'"
 
 
When women work for women, a different dynamic often takes over. Susan, a cashier in a Toronto auction house, says that she has explored friendships with some of her female bosses and feels she can rely on them more. While women may feel more at ease with a female boss, men often have to make concessions to the new working styles. Brian, a marine biologist, says, "It took me a couple of years before I felt comfortable enough to relax around a female manager. In fact, my relations with her were much more businesslike."
 
To some extent, the male-female differences come down to conflicting styles. One female vice-president discussed the time she burst into tears during a meeting. "Men think that tears are a nuclear weapon in a conventional war. They take exception to a wo
man crying, inferringthat she's feeling unhappy or violated." The men failed to understand that what prompted her tears was not hurt but genuine rage. "When we cry, it's because we have all this valid rage thathas no appropriate release." she says. "Women cry; men get relief by going on with the offense or by vaguelyveiling their feelings to appear composed.
 
Deborah, president of a firm with its headquarters in Toronto, says that even if men dounderstand, they sometimes react differently to the identical information and to her cooperative management style.
 
 
Deborah says that her authority is sometimes undermined by perceptions about her gender. "Itstems from the whole social context of traditional roles for men and women, sh
e says." Mom would tell you to do things, but perhaps you wouldn't take as much notice as when Dad told you to do things. Men also have a stronger urge to control," she says.
 
For female bosses, the great expectation of some female employees is one more obstacle. Junior women assume a female boss will promote them more quickly than a man would. But, they also expect female bosses to be more self-sufficient. 'They ask, 'Why can't you scan your own stuff?' or 'Why can't you do your own filing?'" says one senior female executive.
 
On the other hand, there is no dispute that a few decades ago they would rarely have had a female boss in the workplace. Nina, a management consultant says she's vaguely optimistic. "I'mlooking forward to the day, before I die, when we recognize that the best management styles willbe composed of the best that both genders bring to the table ..." Well, she pauses, maybe not before she dies, perhaps in her daughter's lifetime.
 

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