What Do Women Leaders Have in Common? 女性領導者的共同點

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，很難找出德國總理安格拉·默克爾、孟加拉國總理謝赫·哈西娜和利比里亞總統埃倫·約翰遜·瑟利夫三人之間的共同之處——除了她們都是女性國家領導人這一點。比如說，默克爾從政前曾從事化學研究十余年，孟加拉國開國總統之女哈西娜大學期間就擔任其父的政治聯絡員，而約翰遜·瑟利夫在1985年競選副總統之前還任過利比里亞的財政部長，并在多家海外金融機構有任職經歷。

然而，盡管幾位女性成長的文化與政治背景有著千差萬別，她們之間，也包括全球另外約20位女性國家元首在內，是否有著更深層面的共同之處呢？這一問題的答案能夠揭示世人是如何看待巾幗領袖的，更重要的也許是，它能讓我們看清女性在追求平等代表權的道路上仍舊面臨的障礙。

猶他谷州立大學研究員蘇珊·R.馬德森稱，雖然對不同文化中領導者的研究不在少數，但其中專門針對女性領導的研究卻寥寥無幾。2009到2010年，馬德森采訪了中國和阿拉伯聯合酋長國（阿聯酋）的一些女性領導人，一探她們的領袖之路。她說，聽著她們講述自己成為領導者、倡議者的歷程，她感嘆于這些女性之間的相似之處。

“她們無一例外地說到了和家人在餐桌上的交流讓她們敢于說話，樹立自信。父母會談談政治，聊聊社區的新鮮事，而當她們想發言時，父母從不阻止?！瘪R德森如是說。在阿聯酋，性別隔離是個普遍現象，而馬德森采訪的幾位女性都提到了父親對她們抒發己見的鼓勵。“我采訪的每位女性都說，父親出遠門時總會給她們帶書回來，這是大多數人沒有的待遇。”

作為女性與領導力系列訪談的一部分，我采訪了三位來自不同國度并在各自領域都成為領軍人物的女性。一位是和政府共同致力于打擊人口販賣的烏干達女性艾格尼絲·伊戈耶，一位是突尼斯女性權利組織“女性的聲音”的創始人伊克拉姆·本·賽義德，另一位是印度的賽麗·查哈爾，她創立了SHEROES數字平臺，助力女性重回職場。在和她們的對話中，我發現馬德森的論斷得以證實。

三位受訪者都將其成長的家庭環境——特別是一個懂得教導并賦權女性家庭成員去求知、提問、樹己見的父親形象——視為影響自身發展的重要因素。此外，母親等女性長輩敢于打破傳統，在家庭事務中一展權威。她們自幼便在父母熏陶下接受了領導力的啟蒙教育。

比如伊戈耶就認為，父親不顧同村人的反對，將女兒們都送進學校，乃是遠見之舉。母親為發展其教師事業，成年后仍然重返校園，她說這對她影響很深。本·賽義德也說，在她成長的過程中，父親鼓勵家人之間進行政治辯論，即便她與父親意見相左時也依然如此。查哈爾則說，從她年幼之時起，父母就逆常道而行，不希望找個如意郎君成為女兒們唯一的志向。

馬德森的另一研究結論顯示，女性領導者的成長歷程有別于男性。她說：“男性更有全局觀，在通往領導崗位的過程中（往往走）一條更直線式的發展路徑。而女性則要隨遇而安得多。她們通常未必會目視前路、心中暗想：‘我要出人頭地。’女性往往認為，是種種閱歷共同鋪就了她們的領導之路——比如身為人母，比如在非營利機構工作，又比如在董事會任職。”馬德森把這比作一條由各種經歷拼湊而成的“百衲被”——將這個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的法麗達·賈拉勒扎伊說，這也就是為何女性的從政之路更易始于基層。她解釋說：“女性更有可能通過積極行動初次步入公眾視野;有時是因為母親的身份讓她們想在某些方面盡一份力?！?/p>

女性領導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準，在性別嚴重不平等的國家或許尤其如此。賈拉勒扎伊在研究中發現了這一點?！拔覀儽仨毘姓J，男人僅僅因為是男人，就不會遭到別人對他們領導能力的懷疑?！彼忉尩?，“可能明天就有人說貝拉克·奧巴馬總統是個徹底的失敗者，但沒有人會因此下定論說男人當不了好領導。所以有一種特權是，你個人的成敗不會牽連到你所屬的性別整體?！?/p>

譬如，本·賽義德就說，在突尼斯，公眾對女性執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導崗位?！币粮暌跒醺蛇_也有同感?！霸谖覀儑?，女領導必須得強勢，實為不易?！彼f，“你時刻都忘不了你代表的是所有女性。你得格外努力，拿出成績，拿出行動，因為你一旦行差踏錯，就會有人說：‘哈看吧，女人！’”

正因如此，擁有女性領導本身就能改變一個國家幾代女性享有的機遇。如馬德森所言：“最基本的一點，一個國家的領導層是以何面目示人的，女性領導擁有多少發言權，影響著該國領導力的本質及其對該國女性的意義。比如在中東地區，高層領導人都是國王或謝赫，領導階層和民眾之間相隔甚遠。通常，這些文化中的女性根本無法想象自己也能身居高位，所以她們的觀念里領導還是以男性為主。”而這一點，也許相比其他任何事情來說，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：天津鐵道職業技術學院）