What Do Women Leaders Have in Common? 女性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者的共同點(diǎn)

沙爾米拉·加尼森 郭碩

On the surface， one would be hard-pressed1 to find many similarities between German chancellor Angela Merkel， Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina， and Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf—except for the fact that they are all female leaders of nations. Merkel， for example， spent more than a decade as a chemist before going into politics， while Hasina， the daughter of Bangladesh’s first president， attended college at the same time that she served as her father’s political liaison2， and Johnson Sirleaf was Liberia’s minister of finance and worked at multiple financial institutions outside her country before running for vice president in 1985.

But despite the vastly different cultural and political contexts that these women arose in—and the roughly 20 other female heads-of-state around the world—is there something deeper that they share？ Answering that question could reveal how women in leadership are perceived around the world， and perhaps more importantly， the obstacles women continue to face in their quest for equal representation.

The researcher Susan R. Madsen of Utah Valley University says that while many studies have been done on leadership in different cultures， very few have focused on female leadership specifically. From 2009 to 2010 Madsen interviewed women in China and the United Arab Emirates3 （UAE） about their paths to leadership. She said she was surprised by the similarities among the women when they spoke about how they became leaders and advocates4.

“Every single one of them talked about finding their voices and their confidence at dinner-table conversations with their families. Their parents talked about politics， about what was happening in the community， and when the women had something to say， their parents didn’t hush them，” Madsen said. In the UAE， where men and women were often separated， women that Madsen interviewed pointed to the role of their fathers in encouraging them to speak up. “Every woman I spoke to said her father would bring home books for her to read when he traveled， which most other people didn’t have.”

As part of a series of interviews on women and leadership， I spoke to three women from different countries who have each become leaders in their respective fields： Agnes Igoye of Uganda， who works with her government to counter human trafficking5; Ikram Ben Said， the founder of Tunisian women’s-rights organization Aswat Nissa6; and Sairee Chahal of India， who started SHEROES7， a digital platform that helps women get back into the workforce. In these conversations I saw Madsen’s observation borne out8.

All three of my interviewees pointed to the family environment they had been raised in—particularly a father figure who taught and empowered9 the women in the family to learn， ask questions， and form their own opinions—as a key factor in their own growth. This， coupled with mothers or other older women who broke convention by displaying leadership within the family， was common source of early lessons on leadership.

Igoye， for example， credited her father with10 having the foresight to send his daughters to school despite opposition from others in their village. Her mother went back to school as an adult to improve her career as a teacher， which Igoye described as being a big influence on her. Similarly， Ben Said talked about how her father encouraged political debate among the family when she was growing up， even when her opinions contradicted his. Meanwhile， Chahal said that even in her younger days， her parents went against the general convention of expecting their daughters to aspire only to a good matrimonial match11.

Another conclusion from Madsen’s work is that women’s leadership development doesn’t look like men’s. “Men are more strategic and [tend to follow] a more linear path to becoming a leader. Women’s paths are much more emergent12. They tend to not necessarily look ahead and think， ‘I want to be on top.’ Women would point to a number of experiences—motherhood， or working with a non-profit， or sitting on13 a board， as shaping their path to becoming leaders，” she said. Madsen likens this to a “patchwork quilt14” of experiences—an aggregate that is more clear and cohesive together than as distinct parts.

Which is why women are more likely to take a grassroots route to politics， says Farida Jalalzai of Oklahoma State University， “Women are more likely to first get into public life through activism15; sometimes it is through their identities as mothers to work on a particular problem，” she explained.

Another reason that women leaders may have some similarities is that they tend to be held to higher standards than their male counterparts， perhaps even more so in countries where there is dramatic gender inequality. Jalalzai has found this in her research. “We have to acknowledge that men are not faced with the suspicion that they can’t be good leaders simply because they are men，” she explained. “Tomorrow someone might say President Barack Obama was a complete failure， but no one is going to conclude from that that all men are bad leaders. So there’s a certain type of privilege that your success or failure is not going to reflect on your entire sex.”

In Tunisia， for instance， Ben Said said the public is just beginning to accept and trust women in government. “The pressure is on them to perform， to deliver16 results， so that people will be more encouraged to have more women in positions of leadership，” she told me. And Igoye has felt this in Uganda as well. “Women who take up leadership positions in my country have to be tough， it’s not easy at all，” she said. “You are always aware that you are representing all women. You have to work extra hard to deliver， to perform， because if you do something wrong， they will say， ‘Ah you see， women！’ ”

It’s for this reason that merely having women leaders can change the opportunities available for generations of women in a country. As Madsen put it， “Bottom line， what leadership looks like in their country， how much of a voice the women leaders are having， influences what leadership is and what it means to its women. For example， in the Middle East， the top leaders are kings or sheikhs17， and there is a big separation between the leaders and society. Oftentimes， the women of those cultures just don’t see themselves in those positions， so their understanding of leadership is more male.” And that， perhaps more than anything else， is what Ben Said， Chahal， Igoye， and other women like them around the world stand to change.

表面上看，很難找出德國(guó)總理安格拉·默克爾、孟加拉國(guó)總理謝赫·哈西娜和利比里亞總統(tǒng)埃倫·約翰遜·瑟利夫三人之間的共同之處——除了她們都是女性國(guó)家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人這一點(diǎn)。比如說(shuō)，默克爾從政前曾從事化學(xué)研究十余年，孟加拉國(guó)開國(guó)總統(tǒng)之女哈西娜大學(xué)期間就擔(dān)任其父的政治聯(lián)絡(luò)員，而約翰遜·瑟利夫在1985年競(jìng)選副總統(tǒng)之前還任過(guò)利比里亞的財(cái)政部長(zhǎng)，并在多家海外金融機(jī)構(gòu)有任職經(jīng)歷。

然而，盡管幾位女性成長(zhǎng)的文化與政治背景有著千差萬(wàn)別，她們之間，也包括全球另外約20位女性國(guó)家元首在內(nèi)，是否有著更深層面的共同之處呢？這一問(wèn)題的答案能夠揭示世人是如何看待巾幗領(lǐng)袖的，更重要的也許是，它能讓我們看清女性在追求平等代表權(quán)的道路上仍舊面臨的障礙。

猶他谷州立大學(xué)研究員蘇珊·R.馬德森稱，雖然對(duì)不同文化中領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者的研究不在少數(shù)，但其中專門針對(duì)女性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的研究卻寥寥無(wú)幾。2009到2010年，馬德森采訪了中國(guó)和阿拉伯聯(lián)合酋長(zhǎng)國(guó)（阿聯(lián)酋）的一些女性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人，一探她們的領(lǐng)袖之路。她說(shuō)，聽著她們講述自己成為領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者、倡議者的歷程，她感嘆于這些女性之間的相似之處。

“她們無(wú)一例外地說(shuō)到了和家人在餐桌上的交流讓她們敢于說(shuō)話，樹立自信。父母會(huì)談?wù)務(wù)危牧纳鐓^(qū)的新鮮事，而當(dāng)她們想發(fā)言時(shí)，父母從不阻止?！瘪R德森如是說(shuō)。在阿聯(lián)酋，性別隔離是個(gè)普遍現(xiàn)象，而馬德森采訪的幾位女性都提到了父親對(duì)她們抒發(fā)己見(jiàn)的鼓勵(lì)?！拔也稍L的每位女性都說(shuō)，父親出遠(yuǎn)門時(shí)總會(huì)給她們帶書回來(lái)，這是大多數(shù)人沒(méi)有的待遇?！?/p>

作為女性與領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力系列訪談的一部分，我采訪了三位來(lái)自不同國(guó)度并在各自領(lǐng)域都成為領(lǐng)軍人物的女性。一位是和政府共同致力于打擊人口販賣的烏干達(dá)女性艾格尼絲·伊戈耶，一位是突尼斯女性權(quán)利組織“女性的聲音”的創(chuàng)始人伊克拉姆·本·賽義德，另一位是印度的賽麗·查哈爾，她創(chuàng)立了SHEROES數(shù)字平臺(tái)，助力女性重回職場(chǎng)。在和她們的對(duì)話中，我發(fā)現(xiàn)馬德森的論斷得以證實(shí)。

三位受訪者都將其成長(zhǎng)的家庭環(huán)境——特別是一個(gè)懂得教導(dǎo)并賦權(quán)女性家庭成員去求知、提問(wèn)、樹己見(jiàn)的父親形象——視為影響自身發(fā)展的重要因素。此外，母親等女性長(zhǎng)輩敢于打破傳統(tǒng)，在家庭事務(wù)中一展權(quán)威。她們自幼便在父母熏陶下接受了領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力的啟蒙教育。

比如伊戈耶就認(rèn)為，父親不顧同村人的反對(duì)，將女兒們都送進(jìn)學(xué)校，乃是遠(yuǎn)見(jiàn)之舉。母親為發(fā)展其教師事業(yè)，成年后仍然重返校園，她說(shuō)這對(duì)她影響很深。本·賽義德也說(shuō)，在她成長(zhǎng)的過(guò)程中，父親鼓勵(lì)家人之間進(jìn)行政治辯論，即便她與父親意見(jiàn)相左時(shí)也依然如此。查哈爾則說(shuō)，從她年幼之時(shí)起，父母就逆常道而行，不希望找個(gè)如意郎君成為女兒們唯一的志向。

馬德森的另一研究結(jié)論顯示，女性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者的成長(zhǎng)歷程有別于男性。她說(shuō)：“男性更有全局觀，在通往領(lǐng)導(dǎo)崗位的過(guò)程中（往往走）一條更直線式的發(fā)展路徑。而女性則要隨遇而安得多。她們通常未必會(huì)目視前路、心中暗想：‘我要出人頭地?！酝J(rèn)為，是種種閱歷共同鋪就了她們的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)之路——比如身為人母，比如在非營(yíng)利機(jī)構(gòu)工作，又比如在董事會(huì)任職?！瘪R德森把這比作一條由各種經(jīng)歷拼湊而成的“百衲被”——將這個(gè)集合視為一體比拆分開看更明了也更緊密。

俄克拉荷馬州立大學(xué)的法麗達(dá)·賈拉勒扎伊說(shuō)，這也就是為何女性的從政之路更易始于基層。她解釋說(shuō)：“女性更有可能通過(guò)積極行動(dòng)初次步入公眾視野;有時(shí)是因?yàn)槟赣H的身份讓她們想在某些方面盡一份力?！?/p>

女性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)也許有其共性的另一原因在于，她們常常面臨著比男性更高的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，在性別嚴(yán)重不平等的國(guó)家或許尤其如此。賈拉勒扎伊在研究中發(fā)現(xiàn)了這一點(diǎn)。“我們必須承認(rèn)，男人僅僅因?yàn)槭悄腥?，就不?huì)遭到別人對(duì)他們領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能力的懷疑?！彼忉尩?，“可能明天就有人說(shuō)貝拉克·奧巴馬總統(tǒng)是個(gè)徹底的失敗者，但沒(méi)有人會(huì)因此下定論說(shuō)男人當(dāng)不了好領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。所以有一種特權(quán)是，你個(gè)人的成敗不會(huì)牽連到你所屬的性別整體?！?/p>

譬如，本·賽義德就說(shuō)，在突尼斯，公眾對(duì)女性執(zhí)政者的接納和信任才剛剛開始。她告訴我：“她們要謀其政、成其事，為的是公眾能夠更加擁戴更多女性走上領(lǐng)導(dǎo)崗位?！币粮暌跒醺蛇_(dá)也有同感?！霸谖覀儑?guó)家，女領(lǐng)導(dǎo)必須得強(qiáng)勢(shì)，實(shí)為不易?！彼f(shuō)，“你時(shí)刻都忘不了你代表的是所有女性。你得格外努力，拿出成績(jī)，拿出行動(dòng)，因?yàn)槟阋坏┬胁钐ゅe(cuò)，就會(huì)有人說(shuō)：‘哈看吧，女人！’”

正因如此，擁有女性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)本身就能改變一個(gè)國(guó)家?guī)状韵碛械臋C(jī)遇。如馬德森所言：“最基本的一點(diǎn)，一個(gè)國(guó)家的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)層是以何面目示人的，女性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)擁有多少發(fā)言權(quán)，影響著該國(guó)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力的本質(zhì)及其對(duì)該國(guó)女性的意義。比如在中東地區(qū)，高層領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人都是國(guó)王或謝赫，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)階層和民眾之間相隔甚遠(yuǎn)。通常，這些文化中的女性根本無(wú)法想象自己也能身居高位，所以她們的觀念里領(lǐng)導(dǎo)還是以男性為主。”而這一點(diǎn)，也許相比其他任何事情來(lái)說(shuō)，正是本·賽義德、查哈爾、伊戈耶以及世界各地和她們一樣的女性將要改變的。? ? ? ? ? ? ? □

（譯者單位：天津鐵道職業(yè)技術(shù)學(xué)院）