Some prominent businesswomen believe they are being asked to disclose more about their personal lives as they climb the career ladder than their male counterparts.
一些出色的商界女性认为，在职业生涯的上升期，她们往往需要比男同事透露更多的个人生活信息。
One seemingly innocent but frequently asked question illustrates the keen interest in the balance that women have to achieve between their professional and private lives – “how do you make it work?”
“你是如何做到工作家庭两不误的？”这是一个看似无意但却经常被问到的问题，表明人们非常好奇女性是如何在职业和个人生活之间取得平衡的。
Campaigners say that this question would hardly ever be put to a man and that it implicitly raises doubts over women’s commitment to their professional lives.
有经验的人表示，这个问题男人就很少被问及，而它也暗示了人们怀疑女性能否真正投入职业生活。
Similarly, in a recent interview for FT Executive Appointments, one female chief executive declined to answer questions about her home life, saying her own achievements might then be attributed to having a supportive husband and family – or to being single or childless.
同样，在FT Executive Appointments最近的一次访谈中，一位女首席执行官就拒绝回答关于她家庭生活的问题，她说不然自己的成就可能被归结为背后有一个支持自己的丈夫和家庭，或者她是单身，或者她没有孩子。
Deborah Meaden, the entrepreneur whose profile rose dramatically when she began appearing on the BBC’s popular television show Dragons’ Den, has developed strict boundaries around the parts of her life that she will and will not discuss.
企业家黛博拉•米登(Deborah Meaden)在BBC电视秀节目《龙穴之创业投资》(Dragons' Den)露面之后声名鹊起，关于个人生活中哪些方面能谈论，哪些方面不能谈论，她划定了明确的界限。
“I was fairly nervous about mentioning anything at the start, but I am clear now about what I will and won’t talk about,” she explains. “You will never see a picture of my home, but there are stories that I have decided I don’t mind talking about – like the fact that I keep pigs and sheep. Who my friends are and what I do in my private life is not public information,” she says.
“一开始的时候，谈到任何（关于我个人生活）的事情，我都会很紧张，但现在我已经很清楚自己愿意谈什么不愿意谈什么。”她解释道，“你永远都看不到我家的照片，但有些东西我也不介意去谈论，比如说我养猪养羊的事情。但我有哪些朋友以及我私生活中都做了些什么就不便公开了。”她接着说。
But she believes that the scale of interest in her personal life is the result of her media career, as much as her gender.
但她认为，人们对她的个人生活抱有浓厚兴趣，跟她从事传媒工作以及她的性别都有关系。
“There are more men in business and so it’s a fact that if you are a woman you are a rarity and therefore you will attract more interest. And there is interest in how your life works because the traditional form is that women look after the family. But a lot of business people go about their life without anyone being interested in their home life.”
“商界以男性居多，因此女性在商界就是‘珍稀动物’，也会吸引更多的目光。人们也会对你的生活方式感兴趣，因为传统上来看，妇女应该是家庭主妇。但很多商界人士就能平平静静过自己的生活，他们的家庭生活不会受到关注。”
Caroline Garnham, founder and chief executive of Family Bhive, the social networking website for wealthy individuals, says many high profile women fear the “JK Rowling experience”, where unwelcome public interest is extended to their children, who become a target for the media.
面向富人的社交网站Family Bhive的创始人兼首席执行官卡罗琳•伽汉姆(Caroline Garnham)指出，很多女名人都害怕“J•K•罗琳(JK Rowling)的经历”，公众过多的关注已经影响到了她的孩子们，使得他们成为媒体追逐的目标。
But, she adds, parents who maintain a balance between home and business are interesting. “People are interested in how women manage their lives. And I think that’s fine, it just depends on how the question is asked.”
但她也认为，那些能够在家庭和事业之间维持平衡的父母确实很令人感兴趣。“人们对女性如何打理自己的生活感兴趣。我认为这也没什么，关键在于问问题的方式。”
Peninah Thomson, director of the FTSE 100 Cross-Company Mentoring Programme, is less sure that pursuing a line of questioning about successful women’s home lives is a good idea.
“富时100指数跨公司指导计划”的主管佩尼娜•汤姆森(Peninah Thomson)不赞同追问成功女性的家庭生活。
“It’s perhaps not surprising that women executives are frequently asked about how they balance their professional and their personal lives, but I’m not sure it’s helpful,” she says.
“女性高管经常被问到她们如何在职业生活和个人生活之间达成平衡，这或许并不奇怪，但我不确定这样问有什么好处。”她说。
“It runs the risk of implying that senior women may be grappling with challenges that are insurmountable, when the evidence is that professional women are succeeding in resolving those challenges – that they can be addressed.”
“这样问好像是在暗示，女性高管需要克服很多难以逾越的挑战，但事实证明，职业女性能够成功应对这些挑战，这些挑战也是可以克服的。”
She admits that matters of childcare costs, taxation and career progression for women who take time out of work to have children are important and worth discussing, but would prefer that the focus of these debates was more positive: “Focusing relentlessly on the difficulties rather than arguing for creative solutions, doesn’t help.”
她承认，对于那些从工作中抽出时间来养育孩子的女性来说，照顾孩子的费用、纳税、职业发展等问题确实很重要，也值得去讨论。但她认为，人们讨论的重点应该放在更加积极的方面：“一味地关注困难，而不是寻找有创造性的解决方法，这是没有任何帮助的。”
The fact that Helena Morrissey, chief executive of Newton Investment Management, has nine children is often raised in profiles written about her, but Rebecca Harding, chief executive of economics consultancy Delta Economics, believes this is because it is an eye-catching fact, not because she is a woman.
牛顿投资管理(Newton Investment Management)首席执行官海伦娜•莫里西(Helena Morrissey)有九个孩子的事实经常会出现在关于她的介绍中。Delta Economics首席执行官丽贝卡•哈定(Rebecca Harding)认为这是因为这个事实很引人注目，而不是因为她是一个女性。
“These sorts of facts are the things that make you interesting to the world at large,” she argues. “If you have a high profile then you will be asked questions about your personal life, irrespective of whether you are a man or a woman.“
她解释说，“这种事会吸引整个世界的目光。如果你很知名，那么你就会被问及个人生活的问题，不管你是男的还是女的。”
She agrees with Ms Meaden that women in senior positions attract more attention that their male counterparts because they are less common, but has found that the group most interested in her home life is other women.
她同意米登女士的看法，身处高层的女性往往比同级别的男性更让人关注，是因为她们更不寻常，但她也发现，对她的家庭生活最感兴趣的也是女性。
“I speak at a lot of women’s events and I am always asked about my domestic situation. I accept it and I will talk about anything. Your personal experiences make you who you are and affect what you bring to the workplace.”
“我在很多妇女活动上发言，也总是被问及自己的家庭情况。我也接受了这个事实，并且愿意谈论所有的话题。个人经历造就了现在的自己，也会给你的工作带来影响。”
Heather Jackson, chief executive of An Inspirational Journey, an organisation that aims to increase the number of women in senior positions, is adamant that women should be open about their home lives.
以增加女性高管数量为宗旨的组织An Inspirational Journey的首席执行官海瑟•杰克森(Heather Jackson)坚持认为，女性应该直言不讳地谈论自己的家庭生活。
“We need more role models, we need women to talk honestly about how they live their lives so that other women can learn from them and we can address the fact that there are so few women in the C-suite [in executive roles],” she says.
“我们需要更多的行为模范，女性应该诚恳地谈论她们的生活方式，这样其他女性就可以学习她们，从而改变女性高管数量少得可怜这一事实。”她说。
Ms Jackson, who raised two children as a single mother at the same time as starting her business, says she has made a point of always being open about her personal situation.
养育了两个孩子的单身母亲杰克森同时也创立了自己的公司，她认为从来不必隐瞒自己的个人情况。
“I think women are worried about being judged on something outside of their professional life, but professional identities depend on personality and chemistry as well as skills,” she says.
“在我看来，女性比较在意人们对自己职业生活之外的事‘指指点点’，但职场上的形象不仅取决于技能，也取决于个性和感染力。”她说。
“Women will get asked these questions and they can use it to their advantage – so long as they are prepared for the possibility that there is a subconscious question ‘can you do this role?’ behind the one that’s being asked.”
“女性可能会被问到这些问题，但她们也可以对此加以利用，只要她们明白问题背后可能隐含着一个潜意识的问题‘你能扮演好这个角色吗？’，并准备好应对就行。”
But Ms Jackson also thinks that the question is no longer put to women alone. Personal questions are becoming a mainstay of business conversations, she says, regardless of gender.
然而，杰克森女士也认为，现在不仅是女性需要面对这个问题。个人问题已经成为商务谈话中的一个主流问题，不管是男是女。
Ms Harding agrees. “The subject of families used to be a complete no-go area, but over the past 10 years there has been a real shift. Business leaders are coached to introduce bits of their personal life to their corporate life – because it’s their story and personal experiences that make them who they are.”
哈定女士认同这个说法。“家庭问题曾经是个‘禁区’，但这十年来变化很大。如今公司领导需要学会在他们的公司生活中融入一些个人生活，因为正是他们的背景和个人经历造就了现在的他们。”