????英國商界女性是不是仍然欠缺勇氣？藉此機會，我非常嚴肅地提出這個問題。如今，女性董事問題非常熱門，已經遠遠超出了董事會議室這個小天地。英國首相戴維?卡梅倫稱，他將會考慮設定配額，迫使企業增加女性董事的數量。而一年前，默文?戴維斯勛爵發布了一份措辭嚴厲的報告，呼吁富時100指數成份股公司在2015年前將女董事比例從現在的15%提高到25%。

????這些措施用心良苦，但恐怕效果不佳。很少有人會否認，董事會中的男女比例應當與整個企業中男女員工的比例相符，它對企業經營和整個社會的福祉都很有好處。可是，沒有哪家公司喜歡政府指手畫腳，告訴他們該如何運營公司，女士們也不希望單純因為法律要求而當上董事。人們會懷疑這樣的董事會到底是精英主義、還是平庸主義的產物。

????更重要的是，這類措施完全沒有觸及英國企業董事會中女性比例奇低的根源——這就再次引出了我在文章一開始提出的問題：英國女性是否應當像美國同行學習，變得更加自信？咨詢公司Augmentum的數據顯示，富時250成份股公司只有9%的董事是女性；如果你覺得這個數據還不算低得可憐的話，那我得提醒你，就這9%還包括了許多美國女士，比如才華橫溢的巴柏莉（Burberry）女掌門安吉拉?阿倫茨和Logica女董事簡?芭比阿克。領導英國企業的美國女強人為數不少，除阿倫茨之外，培生集團（Pearson）首席執行官馬喬里?斯卡迪諾和英美資源集團（Anglo American）首席執行官辛西婭?卡羅爾也都來自美國。

????這是什么緣故？英國領導與管理協會（the Institute of Leadership & Management）的一份新調查顯示，男人在職場上的自信程度比女人高出30%。如果我們女人自己都不相信自己有能力進入董事會——并站穩腳跟，那怎么可能說服別人相信我們？

????我認為，英國職業女性中流行著一種嚴重缺乏自信的地方病，跟美國同行們的情況截然不同。

????根據我的經驗，英國社會對大多數女孩的職業前途并不抱太高期望，這是上述現象的成因之一。我父親是一位傳統的軍官，我從小在女修道院接受教育，至于我的職業前途，從來沒人關心過。哥哥從牛津大學（Oxford）拿到了不錯的學位，我卻寧愿少接受點高等教育，以便盡快開始全職工作。

????Do British businesswomen need more swagger? It is a question I raise, in all seriousness, as the subject of women as corporate directors has become a hot topic well beyond the boardroom. Prime Minister David Cameron has said he would consider instituting quotas to increase the participation of women on boards--a year after Lord Mervyn Davies issued a scathing report calling for companies on the FTSE 100 to increase the proportion of their female directors to 25% by 2015, from about 15% today.

????These efforts are well-intentioned but fraught. Few would dispute that a boardroom that reflects the workforce is anything but good for business (and the general well being-of society). But no corporation wants to be told how to manage its business by government, and women don't want to secure seats on boards to simply to satisfy legislation. They will wonder if it's mediocracy or meritocracy.

????More importantly, these measures do nothing to address the root cause of the abysmally low numbers of women on U.K. corporate boards--which brings me back to my original question: Do women in the U.K. need to be more assertive, more like their U.S. counterparts?Consider Augmentum Consulting's figure that women make up just 9% of the boards of FTSE 250 companies; if this wasn't a poor enough result in itself, this 9% is made up of many female U.S. nationals, such as the highly talented Angela Ahrendts of Burberry (BURBY) and Logica's Jan Babiak. (The number of American women leading U.K.-based companies is also notable: Besides Burberry's Ahrendts, Pearson's (PSO) CEO Marjorie Scardino and Anglo American (AGPPY) CEO Cynthia Carroll also hail from the U.S.)

????What gives? A new piece of British research by the Institute of Leadership & Management concluded that men were 30% more confident than women in the workplace. If we as women don't believe in our own ability to reach the boardroom--and stay there--what hope do we have that others will believe in us?

????I believe there is a real lack of self-belief endemic in the female working population of the U.K. and one that is at complete odds with our U.S. counterparts.

????Part of the problem stems from a society that, in my experience, doesn't place high expectations on most girls' career prospects. As a convent-educated female of a very traditional Army Officer father my professional aspirations were never discussed. Whilst my brother went on to gain a good degree from Oxford I limited my higher education preferring to get into full-time employment as quickly as possible.