????假設你是女性，盡管和男同事條件相當，甚至更為優(yōu)秀，你還是屢屢錯過升職的機會，這讓你疑惑不解。那么你很可能沒有考慮這個因素：如果你的老板是位已婚男士，他的太太是做什么的？相比于職業(yè)女性，家庭主婦的配偶在工作上會更加看輕女性的競爭力。

????別不相信，經(jīng)過歷時6年對美國和英國1200名男士的調(diào)查，管理學教授斯瑞達莉?德賽的研究小組得出了這一結(jié)論。德賽同時在北卡羅來納大學（University of North Carolina）的凱南-弗拉格勒（Kenan-Flagler）商學院和哈佛大學擔任教職，在她看來，妻子是家庭主婦的男性經(jīng)理是“職場性別革命的最后障礙?！?/p>

????她說，在5個單獨的研究計劃中，“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)：相對于（男女平等的）現(xiàn)代婚姻，在（男主外女主內(nèi)的）傳統(tǒng)婚姻中，職業(yè)男性更容易敵視女同事，也更經(jīng)常地阻止女員工升職?！?/p>

????為何如此？主要原因是每個人的“家庭環(huán)境都會影響到我們在職場的行為?！痹撗芯孔⒁獾?，“人們每天都在工作和家庭之間‘來回穿梭’，”想在辦公室將家庭生活完全拋在腦后，需要有意識的努力。

????“我們研究的男士都彬彬有禮，他們堅信自己能夠平等看待女同事。他們并非故意壓制女性?！钡沦愔赋?，“然而，在大多數(shù)情況下，他們的決定來自于潛意識的偏見，他們對此一無所知?！?/p>

????在一項實驗中，232名已婚男性經(jīng)理被要求評估兩位參與競爭的MBA候選人，其中一位將獲得在讀期間的全額薪水和學費報銷，畢業(yè)后將升職為副總裁。這兩個（虛構的）候選人在各方面旗鼓相當，都有著“出類拔萃的經(jīng)歷和備受贊譽的領導能力”。

????唯一的區(qū)別：一位叫戴維?布雷克（David Blake，英文男姓名稱），另一位名為黛安（Diane，英文女性名稱）。來自傳統(tǒng)婚姻的男士壓倒性地支持戴維。與此形成鮮明對比的是，職業(yè)女性的丈夫們對兩者基本上是不偏不倚。

????對于渴望躋身公司高層的女性來說，不幸的是，該研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，“來自傳統(tǒng)婚姻”的男性經(jīng)理不但數(shù)量眾多（根據(jù)美國勞工統(tǒng)計局的數(shù)據(jù)，在美國約1100萬），并且有權有勢：“這類男性[比女性和其他男性]更有可能高居組織的頂層…也掙得更多，這進一步說明了他們的影響力?！?/p>

????此外，德賽還懷疑，對多數(shù)公司提供的性別多樣性培訓（如果有的話），這些老板都會聽而不聞?！叭绻阍噲D討論潛意識的觀念如何影響決定，別指望會有什么結(jié)果，因為沒人相信這回事，”德賽注意到，“每個人都會說‘肯定有人潛意識里會[在條件相當時傾向于男性]。但那不是我。’”

????如果多樣性培訓師希望解決這個問題，德賽建議用內(nèi)隱聯(lián)想測驗（Implicit Association Test）來揭露人們隱藏的觀念?！斑@個測試讓很多人大吃一驚，”她說：“別要求公布分數(shù)。目的不是讓人難堪或是采取守勢，而是當作一面鏡子，讓人看到自己隱藏在內(nèi)心的想法。”

????當然，讓所有1100萬男性經(jīng)理都坐下來參加這個測試是不太可能的，更不用說要他們學以致用了。所以，女性要想獲得公平的升職機會，請接受這個建議：在你所能選擇的范圍之內(nèi)，如果老板是已婚男性，記得先挑他的太太，職業(yè)女性最好。

????Let's suppose you're female and puzzled by why you keep getting passed over for promotion -- despite having qualifications equal to, or maybe even better than, your male peers'. Here's a factor you probably haven't considered: If your boss is a married man, what does his wife do for a living? If she's a stay-at-home spouse, he is less likely to see you as a serious contender in the workplace than if she has a career of her own outside the home.

????At least, that is the conclusion of a study, based on six years of research covering 1,200 men in the U.S. and Britain, led by management professor Sreedhari Desai. Male managers whose wives are homemakers are "a pocket of resistance to the gender revolution in the workplace," says Desai, who teaches at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina and at Harvard.

????In five separate research projects, she says, "We found that employed husbands in traditional marriages, compared to those in modern marriages, tend to view the presence of women at work unfavorably -- and, more frequently, to deny qualified female employees opportunities for promotion."

????Why is that? A big part of the reason is that everyone's "home environments can shape the way we behave at work," the study notes. "People are daily 'border crossers' between the domains of work and family," and leaving one's home life entirely behind at the office door requires a conscious effort.

????"The men we studied were all nice guys who really believe that they are capable of seeing female colleagues as equals. They were not deliberately holding women back," Desai points out. "Rather, in the vast majority of cases, they were basing their decisions on unconscious biases they didn't realize they had."

????In one experiment, 232 married male managers were asked to evaluate two competing MBA candidates and told that one of the two would receive a full salary and tuition reimbursement during B-school and a promotion to vice president afterward. The two (fictional) candidates were identical in every way, with "exemplary experience and award-winning leadership capabilities," the study says.

????The only difference: One was named David Blake, and the other's first name was Diane. Men in traditional marriages overwhelmingly chose David. By contrast, the responses of the managers married to women with careers of their own were split almost equally between the two.

????Unfortunately for women who aspire to corporate heights, the study notes, male managers "embedded in traditional marriages" are a large group (about 11 million in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics), and a powerful one: "These men are more likely [than both women and other men] to populate the upper echelons of organizations … [and] to earn more, another indicator of their influence."

????Moreover, Desai suspects that the kind of diversity training most companies do (if they do any at all) is likely to fall on deaf ears with these bosses. "If you try to have a discussion about how people's unconscious beliefs shape their decisions, it's very difficult to get anywhere, because no one believes it," observes Desai. "Everyone will say, 'I'm sure some people do have unconscious attitudes [that favor men over women who are equally qualified]. But not me.'"

????For diversity trainers hoping to get around that, Desai suggests asking people to take a quiz called the Implicit Association Test, which is designed to bring buried beliefs out into the open. "This test is a revelation to many people who take it," she says. "And you don't need to ask anyone to reveal their score. The object isn't to embarrass anyone or put anyone on the defensive, but rather to hold up a mirror so that people become aware of what may be hidden in their own psyches."

????Of course, it's unlikely that 11 million married male executives are all going to sit down and take this test, let alone start acting on whatever they learn from it. So, for women who want a fair shot at advancement, a word of advice: To the extent that you can choose whom to work for, if you are going to work for a married man, go with one who has a career-minded spouse.