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Women have made much progress in gaining equality in work and life over the past half century. In many developed countries such as the US and the UK, women now earn more college and graduate degrees than men do. Women make up half the workforce and are closing the gap in middle management. 过去的半个世纪里，女性工作和生活上的地位变得更加平等。在英美等发达国家，上大学并且拿到学位的女性甚至比男性还要多。公司里，一半的员工都是女性，而中等管理层中男女比例的差距也日益减小。 But however hard women work, it is the men around them who continue to get promoted faster and be paid more. In both the corporate and the political worlds, women are nearly absent from the top positions. 然而，不论女性如何努力工作，她们身边的男性总能更快晋升，获得更多薪酬。不论在商界还是在政界，女性几乎一直被排除在最高领导层之外。 It has been argued that women’s maternal instinct makes it harder for them to find a balance between their home and work lives. Other commentators say cultural and institutional barriers hinder female success. But according to a latest best-seller, all these arguments miss something more basic: women’s lack of confidence. 有人认为，女性的母性本能让她们很难平衡家庭与工作。而另一些评论者则表示，文化和社会习俗的壁垒才是女性事业成功的拦路虎。但是，在最近的一部畅销书中，作者却认为所有这些观点都忽略了一个最基本的原因：女性本身缺乏自信。 | 
