2019年3月，美国女子国家足球队以性别歧视为由对其雇主美国足球协会(U.S. Soccer Federation)提出起诉——职业体育运动领域已知的第一起此类诉讼。这场持久的纷争是多年来推动薪酬平等努力的高潮，并在今年早些时候球队第四次赢得世界杯的激励之下迅速引起了媒体的轰动。就在全世界都看到全体28名队友团结起来之时，我们可以从她们争取平等的斗争中学习经验，尤其是在面对雇主的反对时。
The U.S. women’s national soccer team sued its employer, the U.S. Soccer Federation, for gender discrimination this March — the first known lawsuit of its kind in professional sports. The continuing dispute is a culmination of years of pushing for pay equality and quickly became a media sensation, bolstered by the team’s fourth World Cup win, which came earlier this year. As the world watches all 28 teammates band together, there are a number of important lessons we can learn from their fight for equality, especially in the face of opposition from their employer.
这场诉讼与企业界之间可以找到的相似之处是无可争议的。雇员人数超过100人的企业在美国历史上第一次被要求向平等就业机会委员会(Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)披露详细的薪酬数据——包括女性的薪酬，而且最后期限正在临近。鉴于世界上还没有一个国家消除了性别间的薪酬差距，而且改变这种状况可能需要202年的时间，看到本报告的结果在实现性别平等的进程中引起一些波澜就不足为奇了。
The parallels that can be drawn between the lawsuit and the corporate world are indisputable. For the first time in U.S. history, organizations with over 100 employees are required to disclose detailed pay data — including the compensation of women — to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the deadline is looming. Given that there is still no country in the world where the gender pay gap has closed and that it could take over 200 years to change this, it would not be surprising to see the results of this report cause some disruption in the progress toward gender parity.
对于目前正在与所面临的歧视进行抗争的员工而言，美国女足能够给她们何种教益？雇主又如何才能有效应对呢？
What can the U.S. women’s team teach employees facing the discrimination they are currently fighting, and how can employers respond effectively?
对于员工
四条经验尤为突出
For Employees
Four lessons in particular stand out.
与团队站在同一阵营。女足提起的诉讼缘于多年来的歧视指控。事实上，5名队员早在2016年就向平等就业机会委员会提出了薪资歧视投诉。然而，让所有28名队友在单次行动中团结起来的力量以5人无法做到的方式推动了对话取得进展。
1) Align with your team. The lawsuit filed by the women’s team has its roots in years of alleged discrimination. In fact, five members filed a wage discrimination complaint with the EEOC back in 2016. But the power of having all 28 teammates aligned in a singular mission has helped move the conversation forward in a way that five people just can’t.
“体育界和企业界之间有一些重要的相似之处，尤其是在你把运动项目视为企业、把运动员视为员工的时候，”普渡大学女性、性别和性学研究副教授谢里尔·库奇(Cheryl Cooky)表示，“团队的凝聚力是此件事的关键部分。集体吁请提供了一种安全感。它可以激发行动。如果你罢工，人人跟着罢工，而不只是一个人。”
“There are some important parallels between sports and the business world, particularly if you view sports as a business, and the athletes as employees,” says Cheryl Cooky, an associate professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies at Purdue University. “The team’s cohesion is a key part of this. Collective advocacy provides a kind of safety. It drives movement. If you go on strike, everyone goes on strike. Not just one person.”
这种想法并不新鲜。长期以来，人数上的优势在对歧视和不当行为的指控中一直非常重要。在微软，来自该公司不同女性的90页电子邮件致使与性骚扰和不当行为有关的公司政策得到彻底改革。在谷歌，世界各地超过2万名员工举行罢工，抗议公司对不当性行为案件的处理方式。“如果我们团结起来，我们能够办到什么？”谷歌网站专为母亲开设的消息列表里的一个帖子问道。
This idea is not a new one. Strength in numbers has been important in allegations of discrimination and misconduct for a long time. At Microsoft, 90 pages of emails from various women at the organization led to an overhaul of company policies related to sexual harassment and misconduct. At Google, over 20,000 employees around the world staged walkouts to protest the way the company handled sexual misconduct cases. “If we banded together, what could we do?” asked a post on a messaging list for mothers at Google.
收集数据。美国女足利用数据说明明显的薪资差距。在其诉讼中，她们清晰地列出男队如何比女队输掉了更多的比赛，指出假如直接以每队比赛的次数做比较，男队员的收入同样比女队员多38%。“如果你从企业成功的角度来考虑两支球队的比赛表现，”库奇表示，“相比之下，女队拥有更好的产品。”
2) Collect data. The U.S. women’s team used data to illustrate clear pay disparities. In their suit, they lay out how the men’s team lost more games than the women’s team, alleging that if compared directly by number of matches played by each team, similarly placed men outearn female players by 38%. “If you think of the way the teams play in terms of business success,” says Cooky, “by comparison, the women’s team has a better product.”
在性别分开的职业运动领域，一种常见的用来反对薪资公平的反驳形式就是，女子运动项目不像男子运动项目那样有众多的观众。女足对此有备而来。她们利用的数据显示，在2016到2018年期间，她们比赛创造的收入比男队多100万美元左右——5080万美元对4990万美元。
A common form of pushback that is often used against wage equity in professional sports, which are sex segregated, is that women’s sports are not watched as widely as men’s. The soccer team came prepared for this pushback. They leveraged data showing that between 2016 and 2018, their matches generated around $1 million more in revenue than the men’s — $50.8 million versus $49.9 million.
“她们能够以实证的方式展示歧视存在的证据，”库奇表示，“她们有可靠的数字，因此这事并非主观臆断，不是在进行道德或伦理呼吁。这是一桩女性在诸多不同指标上胜过男性的诉讼案。”
“They were able to demonstrate their case for discrimination in an empirical way,” says Cooky. “They had hard numbers, and so it wasn’t subjective. It wasn’t an appeal to morals or ethics. This was a case where women were outperforming men on a number of different metrics.”
我们在企业界已经多次见过这样的剧情。
We’ve seen this play out in the corporate world many times.
看看耐克。就在去年，它的员工发起了一项调查，收集公司内性骚扰的数据。他们努力的结果就是找到了两名高管屡次从事不良行为的明显证据，两名高管随后被解雇。
Look at Nike. Just last year its employees generated a survey to collect data on sexual harassment within the company. Their efforts led to clear evidence of repeated bad behavior from two executives who were fired thereafter.
品趣志(Pinterest)前工程师特蕾西·周(Tracy Chou)提供了另一个例子。2013年，周创建了一份开源文件，以众包形式收集企业员工队伍里女性工程师的数量。通过数据收集，她能够将“由于‘渠道问题’，很少有女性受聘于技术岗位”的说法转变成“女性在工作中面临着系统性障碍，包括通常针对女性工程师的敌意”。
Tracy Chou, a former engineer at Pinterest, offers another example. In 2013 Chou created an open-source document to crowdsource the number of female engineers companies had in their ranks. Through data collection, she was able to shift the narrative that few women are hired into tech roles because of “pipeline issues” toward the systemic barriers women face at work, including the hostility that is often directed at female engineers.
不管什么原因，实证数据对于反抗歧视，尤其是薪酬歧视纠纷至关重要。把问题提出来之前，收集你所见到的公司发生之事的详细记录——甚至看起来可能不太相关的事例——并聘请法律顾问来指导自己可以采取什么举措。
No matter the cause, empirical data is crucial to fighting discrimination, particularly wage discrimination disputes. Before raising an issue, collect meticulous notes on what you see happening at your company — even instances that may not seem relevant — and engage legal counsel to educate yourself on what can be done.
任命强有力的领导人。在美国女足争取平等的斗争中，强大的领导力是推动团队凝聚力朝着共同目标迈进的关键原则。在梅甘·拉皮诺(Megan Rapinoe)、卡莉·劳埃德(Carli Lloyd)和亚历克丝·摩根(Alex Morgan)的带领下，无论在场上还是场下，球队都有强有力的、才能出色的队长跟随。尤其是拉皮诺，她不厌其烦地诉说争取薪酬平等的努力及其对其他行业会带来的影响。
3) Appoint strong leaders. Strong leadership was a key tenet in driving team cohesion toward a shared goal in the U.S. women’s team’s fight for equality. Led by Megan Rapinoe, Carli Lloyd, and Alex Morgan, on and off the field, the team had strong, capable captains to follow. Rapinoe, in particular, has spoken relentlessly about the push for pay equity and the effect it would have on other industries.
“从社会的角度来看，从让每个地方的女性都有更理想的地方踢球的角度来看，如果薪酬不平等，那就没有我们可以达成的协议，”拉皮诺向全国广播公司(NBC)表示，“这不是讨价还价。你要么对我们一视同仁，并做给我们看，要么不这样做。”
“From a social perspective, from leaving the game in a better place for women everywhere, if it’s not equal, then there’s no deal that we can get to,” Rapinoe told NBC. “This isn’t bargaining. You either value us equally and show that, or you don’t.”
库奇补充道：“梅甘·拉皮诺是一个对社会公正问题十分投入的人，不仅涉及性别问题，而且涉及种族和性问题。她是一个极具魅力的人物。特别是在体育界里，当你处于自身项目的巅峰时，以员工身份站出来为自己争取权利就容易得多。”
Cooky adds, “Megan Rapinoe is someone who is very invested in social justice issues, not just around gender, but around race and sexuality. She’s a very charismatic figure. Within the sports world especially, it’s a lot easier to come out and argue for your rights as a worker when you are at the top of your game.”
在你自己努力的过程中，尽力与你公司里有影响力的领导搞好关系。这样做可以保证你获得某位与你已经有关系的人的认同和支持——也是对制定决策的股东们有影响力的人物。如果人力资源部不把你的要求当一回事，下一步就是让更多人参与进来，并让你的代言人成为不可忽视的人物。多数时候，这意味着有人身处权力位置。如果你发现自己处于领导地位，那就果断地为自己辩护。要明白风险是存在的，而且要确保你知道风险之所在并接受风险。
In your own efforts, try to engage with a leader who has clout within your organization. Doing so will ensure you get buy-in and support from someone you already have a relationship with — and who has influence over the stakeholders who are making decisions. If HR does not take your claim seriously, the next step is to get more people on board and make your spokesperson someone who can’t be ignored. Most times, this means someone in a position of power. If you find yourself in the position to lead, be relentless in your advocacy. Understand that there are risks, and ensure you know and accept what’s at stake.
寻求盟友。美国女足的地位在7月得到进一步巩固，当时男足国家队站出来与美国足协唱反调，并对足协有关女足队员实际工资更高的说法提出异议。“女足国家队队员理应得到同等的薪酬，向法院或国会寻求法律补偿是正义之举。”他们写道。
4) Look for allies. The position of the women’s team was further strengthened in July, when the men’s national team stood up to the U.S. Soccer Federation and disputed the federation’s statement that the women players were actually paid more. “The women’s national team players deserve equal pay and are right to pursue a legal remedy from the courts or Congress,” they wrote.
美国男足还反对足协主席卡洛斯·科代罗(Carlos Cordeiro) 因企图让女队球员的要求缩水而提出数据的方式。他们声称：“我们认为‘这些数据’并不能让人有理由怀疑她们所做的努力或者她们对美国体坛产生的深远影响所具有的真正价值。”除此以外，女足得以获得世界各地有影响力的律师的支持，包括美国参议员乔·曼钦(Joe Manchin)提出的一项法案，该法案将阻止联邦资金用于男子足球世界杯，除非女足获得同等薪酬。
The men’s team also objected to the way Carlos Cordeiro, president of the federation, presented data in an attempt to curtail the women’s claims. “We do not believe [the data] justifies discrediting the work they do or the real value of their profound impact on the American sports landscape,” they stated. Beyond this, the women’s team was able to secure worldwide support from influential advocates, including a bill from U.S. Senator Joe Manchin that would prevent the use of federal funds for the men’s World Cup unless the women were paid equally.
虽然女足的确得益于身为全国关注的焦点——一个有助于培育支持度的位置——但是我也目睹过这种盟友关系在日常工作的情境里获得成功。比如，在我自愿为之服务的一家公司，一名有色人种女子被无缘无故解雇了。事后，她联络了当地社区里影响力大的有色人种女性及盟友，然后她们又致函董事会，这促使对该公司的调查得以展开。
While the women’s team did have the benefit of being in the national spotlight — a position that helped foster support — I’ve seen this kind of allyship succeed in everyday work situations as well. One woman of color whose organization I volunteered with, for example, was fired without explanation. After the fact, she connected with influential women of color and allies within the local community, who in turn wrote a letter to the board, which prompted an investigation into the organization.
向雇主提出歧视问题时，按这些步骤行动并在公司外的其他人中寻找盟友很重要，尤其是那些影响力比你更大的人。业界、客户和媒体负面关注的威胁至少应该促使雇主重视你的诉求。
When bringing up issues of discrimination to an employer, it’s important to follow in these footsteps and seek allies from others outside of your organization, especially those with more influence than you. The threat of negative community, customer, and media attention should, at the least, spur an employer to take notice of your claims.
对于雇主
For Employers
只有当雇主明白平等的重要性并积极努力减少员工队伍中的歧视时，真正的变化才会发生。除非雇主给予支持，否则长期存在的问题得不到解决。
Real change can occur only when employers understand the importance of equality and actively work to reduce discrimination in the workforce. Longstanding issues won’t be fixed unless employers extend their support.
假如你是接到歧视报告的管理者，以下是如何应对微妙局面的几点建议。
If you are a manager who encounters reports of discrimination, here are a few pointers on approaching a tenuous situation.
诚实地核查数据，并让独立的第三方审查投诉。特别是在薪酬公平的问题上，如果你能证明自己在认真对待歧视索赔要求，你在员工那里的可信度和信任度就更高。至于举一个什么不该做的例子，看看美国足协。它用与本案毫不相关的证据公开质疑女足的索赔要求。这样一来，他们不仅失去了女足的信任，而且还失去了男足和公众对他们的信任。
1) Review the data honestly and have an independent third party review the complaint. In matters of pay equity, especially, you will have more credibility and trust with your employees if you can demonstrate that you are taking discrimination claims seriously. For an example of what not to do, look to the U.S. Soccer Federation, who publicly disputed the women’s team’s claims with evidence that wasn’t pertinent to the case. In doing so, they lost trust not only with the women’s team, but also the men’s team and the public.
对索赔诉求采取学习和成长的态度，尽管这可能让人不舒服。不要进行辩护。美国足协为了赢得公众的支持发表了一项声明，声称女足的薪酬比男足还高——因两支球队工资结构不同而很难进行比较。女队有基本工资，而男队的薪酬主要根据比赛成绩来定。这一举动导致男队的反驳，他们声称有一项统计是“假账”，而在公众看来，足协的举动也不顺眼。更好的办法是老老实实地重新审视公司在保障那些举报歧视的人方面有何缺失。即使你的调查和数据可以判定歧视并没有发生，你也要采取额外的措施去弄清员工为何会感觉未得到保障。在这些情况下，重建信任才应该是重点。
2) Take a learning and growth approach to the claims, uncomfortable as it may be. Do not go on the defensive. In attempt to gain support from the public, the U.S. Soccer Federation released a statement claiming that the women’s team had been paid more than the men’s — a comparison that is difficult to make due to the differing pay structures of each team. The women have a base salary, whereas the men are mainly paid based on performance. This act resulted in pushback from the men’s team, who claimed one stat was “false accounting,” and it didn’t look good in the eyes of the public either. A better approach is to review honestly what your organization may be missing to support people who report discrimination. Even if your investigations and data determine that discrimination is not at play, take added steps to understand why employees might be feeling unsupported. Rebuilding trust should be a key focus in these situations.
找出可能引起歧视的系统性及行业性障碍，哪怕它是无意识之举。“作为一家企业，要花些时间反思你的政策和做法，”库奇建议，“至于美国女足，如果足协表示她们没有创造足够的收入，我立刻想到的是：‘为什么？球队营销是怎么做的？’”她指出，与男足比赛相比，用于女队赛事的广告和营销费用较低。库奇表示，ESPN播出美国职业足球大联盟(Major League Soccer)比赛的费用是数百万美元，而全国女子足球联赛NWSL(National Women’s Soccer League)却主要在YouTube上播出。具体而言，2019年7月，ESPN宣布达成了播出她们下半赛季的协议——这是单一年份里电视上播出NWSL比赛的最大数量。她们并不像男足队员那样一直在一个助其成功的体制里效力。
3) Recognize the systemic and industry barriers that may be causing discrimination, even if it’s unintentional. “As an organization, take some time to reflect on your policies and practices,” advises Cooky. “With regards to the U.S women’s soccer team, if the federation says they’re not generating enough revenue, my immediate thought is: ‘Why? How is the team marketed?” She points to the lower advertising and marketing spend on the women’s matches, as compared with the men’s matches. Cooky says Major League Soccer matches in the U.S. are broadcast on ESPN for millions of dollars, whereas the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) matches have been largely broadcast on YouTube. To the point, in July 2019, ESPN announced a deal to broadcast the second-half of their 2019 season — the most number of NWSL matches it has ever shown on TV in a single year. They have been operating in a system that wasn’t designed to help them succeed in the same way as their male counterparts.
在这种情况下，如果你是企业领导，那么你要力图弄清：你可以采取什么行动来创造平等？工作场所有哪些设计帮助了某些员工而非其他人获得成功？如果不从这个框架出发，你最多只能想出权宜之计。最坏的情况是，你会维持问题重重的现状，失去员工对你的信任，有时候还会失去客户的信任。
If you’re an organization leader in this situation, seek to understand: what are the actions you could take to create equality? What about the workplace may be designed to help some employees succeed, but not others? Without leading from this framing, you will, at best, come up with band-aid solutions. At worst, you will maintain a problematic status quo and lose the trust of your employees, and in some cases, customers.
我们正处于史无前例的时代，诸如“我也是”(#MeToo)这样的运动以及争取性别平等的努力继续在世界各地获得推动。美国女足争取同工同酬所展现的勇气只是一个例子，证明在推翻系统性障碍以及推动长远变革方面，集体行动的力量有多么强大。同样，她们的诉讼向我们展示了美国足协那样的雇主在未能采取行动反对歧视和偏见时会面临的后果。如果我们希望所有员工都全力以赴地工作，我们应该铭记美国女足维权运动中的口号：“公平比赛，同工同酬。”
We are at an unprecedented time in history, where movements like #MeToo and the push for gender equality continue to gain traction around the world. The courage demonstrated by the U.S. women’s soccer team’s fight for equal pay is just one example of how powerful collective action can be when it comes to overturning systematic barriers and driving longer term change. Equally, their suit has shown us the consequences employers like the U.S. Soccer Federation face when they fail to step up against discrimination and bias. If we expect all employees to bring their best selves to work, we should take to heart the words from the U.S. women’s team campaign: “Equal Play, Equal Pay.”
本文选自《哈佛商业评论》2019年11月出版杂志
鲁奇卡·图尔 （Ruchika Tulshyan）｜文
时青靖 | 编辑