Men and women are still treated unequally in the workplace. Women continue to earn less, on average, for the same performance. Research has shown that both conscious(有意识的) and subconscious biases (偏见) contribute to this problem. But we’ve discovered another source of inequality: Women often don’t get what they want and deserve because they don’t ask for it. In three separate studies, we found that men are more likely than women to negotiate for what they want.
The first study found that the starting salaries of male MBAs who had recently graduated from Carnegie Mellon were 7.6%, or almost $4,000, higher on average than those of female MBAs from the same program. That’s because most of the women had simply accepted the employer’s salary offer; in fact, only 7% had attempted to negotiate. But 57% of their male counterparts--or eight times as many men as women—had asked for more.
Another study tested this gender difference in the lab. Subjects were told that they would be observed playing a word game and that they would be paid between $3 and $10 for playing. After each subject pleted the task, an experimenter thanked the participant and said, “Here’s $3. Is $3 OK?” For the men, it was not OK, and they said so. Their requests for more money are nine times as many as the women’s.
The largest of the three studies surveyed several hundred people over the Internet, asking them about the most recent negotiations they’d attempted or started and when they expected to negotiate next. The study showed that men place themselves in negotiation situations much more often than women do.
There are several reasons accounting for the phenomenon. First, women often are taught from an early age not to promote their own interests and to focus instead on the needs of others. The messages girls receive—from parents, teachers, other children, the media, and society in general—can be so powerful that when they grow up they may not realize that they’ve made this behavior part of them, or they may realize it but not understand how it affects their willingness to negotiate. Women tend to think that they will be recognized and rewarded for working hard and doing a good job. Unlike men, they haven’t been taught that they can ask for more.
【小题1】According to this passage, what causes the inequality in the workplace?A．social biasB．women’s poorer working abilityC．women’s worse academic backgroundD．women’s less negotiating【小题2】Which can be the result of the following survey, according to Para 4?
When do you expect to negotiate next?
【小题3】Which of the following statements is NOT true?A．Women are more likely to accept the employer’s salary offer.B．Men tend to ask for more money than woman.C．Women care more about other’s interest instead of themselves’.D．Men believe that the better they work, the better they’re paid.【小题4】What will be discussed in the following paragraph?A．The suggestions given to women.B．The warnings to men.C．Another reason for women’s not asking.D．Another reason for men’s asking.D
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(答案→)D
解析：不管是有意的还是无意的，在工作场所仍然存在着男女不平等的现象，同等情况下，女士的报酬要低一些。但是通过调查，研究人员发现妇女没有得到她们应该得到的待遇，究其原因和她们自身不去要求，不去洽谈有关。
【小题1】D细节理解题。根据文章第一段we’ve discovered another source of inequality:…… because they don’t ask for it. 以及we found that men are more likely than women to negotiate for what they want.可知妇女受到不平等待遇的原因之一是因为她们不去提出要求，不去协商，故答案选D。
【小题2】A细节理解题。根据文章第四段末句The study showed that men place themselves in negotiation situations much more often than women do.可知男士比女士更经常去洽谈自己的待遇等问题，而图表A反映出的信息是绝大多数女士希望在四周内去进行协商，而男士却希望在一周内去进行洽谈，恰好能够反映此方面内容，故答案选A。
【小题3】D从文章末段末句Unlike men, they haven’t been taught that they can ask for more. 可知女士们都认为努力工作自然就会得到认可，就会有好的回报，不像男孩子一样，她们没有被教给要自己去要求，自己去争取，由此可知男士们并不认为自己工作做的好报酬自然就会高，故D选项内容错误。
【小题4】C推理判断题。根据文章最后一段There are several reasons accounting for the phenomenon. First…. 可知作者提出有几种原因来解释这种现象，但是末段只提到了第一种，由此推断在下面段落中作者还将介绍其他的原因，故答案选C。