在男性主宰的领域求职，你必须展现出“女汉子”的气概

    在男性主宰的行业，女性求职时常常会面临这样一种困惑：应该发挥女性的特长，例如乐于助人和善于倾听，还是应该强调更多与男性有关的品质，例如果断？

    最新一期《女性心理学季刊》（Psychology of Women Quarterly）发表的一项研究显示，展现“男子气概”是更好的策略。

    在实验中，来自密歇根州立大学（Michigan State）的600多名本科生，对一组申请工程管理职位的女性进行了评估。最终的评估结果是，他们认为，使用通常与男性相关的特征——如独立或注重业绩等——来描述自己的女性，比强调更女性化的品质（热情、乐于助人和体贴等）的女性求职者，更适合这个岗位。

    密歇根州立大学的安妮•玛丽•瑞安表示：“我们发现，‘像男人一样’似乎是有效的策略，因为这是工作的需要。”瑞安与珍妮佛•维塞尔和其他同事共同组织了该项研究。

    对于女性如何在男性主导的领域生存和发展，近期出现了越来越多的讨论，这项最新研究便是其中之一。

    瑞安及其团队之所以选择工程领域，是因为该领域女性极少。据国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）的统计，2011年，仅有11.7%的工程师为女性。上周公布的研究发现，接近40%的工程专业女性毕业生，放弃了所学专业，或者根本没有找到工程类工作。

    美国国家科学基金会三年期研究的第一阶段，对60多年内的5,300名工程专业女毕业生进行了调查，此外，威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校（University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee）教育心理学教授娜迪亚•弗瓦德还从研究中发现，在5年内离开工程领域的女性毕业生中，有三分之二表示她们在其他领域找到更好的机会，另外三分之一则在家相夫教子，因为没有公司愿意接受她们。

    弗瓦德与密歇根州立大学的罗米拉•辛格合作进行了该项研究。她表示：“这些女性更容易遭到排挤，因为她们不属于内部的‘好哥们’圈子。”

    早期的研究显示，在男性占主导的领域，如科学领域，女性面临的最大挑战之一，是如何克服某些根深蒂固的观念，即某些高管职位是“男性专属岗位”，需要的是与男性相关的技能。

    对于女性如何克服这种固有偏见，研究领域也曾出现分歧。

    有些研究认为，如果试图展示她们硬朗的一面，女性可能会面临激烈的反对，而《职业与组织心理学期刊》（Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology）2011年的研究发现，具备侵略性、果敢、自信等品质，并且可以根据具体情况展现这些品质的女性，会比男性或其他女性得到更多升职机会。

    Any woman who has applied for a job in a male-dominated field faces a quandary: Does she play up her feminine strengths, such as being supportive or a good listener, or emphasize traits more associated with men, such as assertiveness?

    It turns out that showcasing “manliness” is the better strategy, according to a study in the latest issue of Psychology of Women Quarterly.

    In a laboratory experiment, a group of more than 600 undergrads from Michigan State evaluated a group of women applying for an engineering management job. They concluded that women who described themselves using traits traditionally associated with men — independence, or a focus on achievement — were seen as more fitting for the job than those who emphasized traits often seen as more feminine (warmth, supportiveness, and nurturing).

    “We found that ‘manning up’ seemed to be an effective strategy, because it was seen as necessary for the job,” said Michigan State’s Ann Marie Ryan, who co-authored the study with Jennifer Wessel and several others.

    The study is the latest in a growing body of work examining how women survive and thrive in the often-male dominated worlds such as top management.

    Ryan and her team chose engineering because women are so poorly represented. Only 11.7 percent of engineers, according to the National Science Foundation, were women in 2011. Research released this week found nearly 40 percent of female engineering graduates quit the profession or never even get a job in the field.

    In the first phase of a three-year NSF study that surveyed 5,300 engineering alumnae spanning six decades, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Educational Psychology Professor NadyaFouad also found that two-thirds of those who left the field within five years said they pursued better opportunities in other fields, while a third stayed home with children because companies wouldn’t accommodate them.

    “These women are more vulnerable to being pushed out because they typically aren’t in the internal ‘good old boys’ network,” said Fouad, who conducted her research with MSU colleague Romila Singh.

    One of the biggest challenges for women in male-dominated fields, such as science, according to earlier research, is combating perceptions that certain top management jobs are “male positions” that require a skill set more associated with men.

    The research community in the past has been divided over how women should combat these inherent biases.

    Some have found that women face a potential backlash if they attempt to highlight their tough side, while a 2011 study in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology found that women who are aggressive, assertive, and confident — and can turn those traits on and off depending on the situation — get more promotions than either men or other women.