Text 4  Europe is not a gender-equality

恬恬2020-05-20  56

问题 Text 4  Europe is not a gender-equality heaven. In particular, the corporate workplace will never be completely family-friendly until women are part of senior management decisions, and Europe’s top corporate-governance positions remain overwhelmingly male. Indeed, women hold only 14 per cent of positions on European corporate boards.  The European Union is now considering legislation to compel corporate boards to maintain a certain proportion of women—up to 60 per cent. This proposed mandate was born of frustration. Last year, European Commission Vice President Viviane Reding issued a call to voluntary action. Reding invited corporations to sign up for gender balance goals of 40 per cent female board membership. But her appeal was considered a failure: only 24 companies took it up.  Do we need quotas to ensure that women can continue to climb the corporate ladder fairly as they balance work and family?  “Personally, I don’t like quotas,” Reding said recently. “But I like what the quotas do.” Quotas get action: they “open the way to equality and they break through the glass ceiling,” according to Reding, a result seen in France and other countries with legally binding provisions on placing women in top business positions.  I understand Reding’s reluctance—and her frustration. I don’t like quotas either; they run counter to my belief in meritocracy, governance by the capable. But, when one considers the obstacles to achieving the meritocratic ideal, it does look as if a fairer world must be temporarily ordered.  After all, four decades of evidence has now shown that corporations in Europe as well as the US are evading the meritocratic hiring and promotion of women to top positions—no matter how much “soft pressure” is put upon them. When women do break through to the summit of corporate power—as, for example, Sheryl Sandberg recently did at Facebook—they attract massive attention precisely because they remain the exception to the rule.  If appropriate public policies were in place to help all women—whether CEOs or their children’s caregivers—and all families, Sandberg would be no more newsworthy than any other highly capable person living in a more just society.

选项 In the European corporate workplace, generally ______ . A.women take the lead B.men have the family say C.corporate governance is overwhelmed D.senior management is family-friendly

答案B

解析本题考查的是考生对细节信息在上下文中具体含义的理解判断能力。由第一段第一句可知,欧洲不是性别平等的天堂,以此引出职场男女比例失衡的问题。第二句表明,对家庭来说,只有女性进入决策高层,职场才可以算是完全友好的,可是在欧洲公司管理高层,男性占压倒性多数。第三句进一步以数字说明这一情况:欧洲公司董事会中,女性仅占l4%。故B项“男性最后说了算”为正确答案。A项“女性占先”与实际情况不符。C项“公司管理手足无措”,未在第一段中提及。D项“高级管理层是家庭一般友好的”也不正确。
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