WOMEN HAVE made extraordinary(非凡的，杰出的) gains in the past few decades across the rich world. They now outnumber men(人数超过男性) on university campuses in virtually every wealthy country. At work, many have been enthusiastically “leaning in(挺身而进（积极投入）)”, as Sheryl Sandberg, then Facebook’s second-in-command(二把手，副指挥官), urged them to do in a book in 2013. Their representation among the highest-paying professions, including medicine and the law, has nearly tripled in America since 1980. At the turn of the century a British patient was twice as likely to see a man. Last year the number of female physicians exceeded(超过（数量上）) those of men for the first time, according to Britain’s General Medical Council, a public body.
过去几十年，女性在富裕世界取得了非凡的进步。如今，在几乎所有富裕国家，大学校园里的女性人数已经超过男性。在工作中，许多人热情地“挺身而进”，正如2013年时任Facebook二把手的谢丽尔·桑德伯格在一本书中鼓励她们的那样。在美国，自1980年以来，女性在包括医学和法律在内的高薪职业中的占比几乎翻了三倍。世纪之交时，英国病人看男医生的可能性是女医生的两倍。去年，根据英国公共机构——综合医学委员会的数据，女医生人数首次超过男医生。
Recently, however, the most highly qualified cohort(群体，同批人) of women in human history has often appeared to be leaning out(退缩，退出). In 2024 a study by S&P Global(标普全球（金融信息公司）), a compiler of indices, found that women’s share of executive positions in listed American companies fell for the first time in 2023 after nearly 20 years of uninterrupted(不间断的，连续的) growth. In 2025 women secured 38% of new board seats(董事会席位) at companies in the S&P 500 index of large American firms, down from 42% the previous year and prolonging(延长，持续) a retreat from their peak in 2020.
然而近来，人类历史上资质最高的女性群体却常常表现出退缩的迹象。2024年，指数编制机构标普全球的一项研究发现，在经历了近20年不间断的增长后，美国上市公司女性高管占比在2023年首次下降。2025年，在由美国大公司组成的标普500指数企业中，女性获得了38%的新董事会席位，低于前一年的42%，延续了自2020年峰值以来的回落。
In its last round of partner promotions(合伙人晋升), in 2024, Goldman Sachs(高盛（投资银行）) named a smaller share of female partners than in the previous round, for the first time in more than a decade. A year later the share of new female managing directors at the Wall Street bank fell, too. Last month Marianne Lake, a female frontrunner to succeed Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase, was relegated(降级，贬黜) and another, Jennifer Piepszak, bowed out(退出，辞职) last year, leaving an unusually pale and male(苍白且男性主导的) lineup for the top job.
在2024年的上一轮合伙人晋升中，高盛任命的女合伙人比例低于前一轮，这是十多年来的首次。一年后，这家华尔街银行的新任女性董事总经理比例也下降了。上个月，玛丽安·莱克——摩根大通首席执行官杰米·戴蒙的有力女性继任者——被降级，另一名女性候选人珍妮弗·皮普扎克已于去年退出，留下了异常苍白且清一色男性的最高职位候选阵容。
