中國的職場歧視往往從招聘廣告就開始了。

本周一非營利性組織人權觀察發布報告稱，中國知名科技企業，比如阿里巴巴集團、百度和騰訊在網站發布招聘廣告時，經常強調某些崗位僅面向男性。

總部位于紐約的人權觀察組織認為，女性面臨的職場歧視還有其他形式，比如中國企業經常對女性求職者提出身高、體重、聲音或者樣貌方面的要求，往往與崗位本身無關。該組織稱，三大科技業巨頭還經常自夸公司有“美女”或是“女神”，助長了普遍存在的職場性別歧視。

人權觀察組織報告寫道：“中國的招聘廣告中隨處可見將女性物化，即僅將女性當成性欲對象的例子。”

人權觀察分析了2013年以來發布的3.6萬逾條廣告，其中大部分公布在企業和政府的網站以及社交媒體平臺。研究人員主要查找和性別偏好有關的詞語，比如“僅限男性”和“適合女性”。

報告稱，今年1月在阿里巴巴網站搜索發現，含有“僅限男性”和“男性優先”之類條件的招聘廣告包括政府事務高級專員和眾包交付經理。人權觀察稱，阿里巴巴用于招聘的社交媒體賬號公布了一些年輕女員工的照片，稱她們是“深夜福利”。

騰訊道歉

人權觀察還提到，騰訊一則廣告中，一名男員工自稱，有漂亮的女性存在是他加入公司的理由；百度一則廣告中也有男員工表示，身邊有美貌女同事是他喜歡工作的原因。

“這是公然地物化女性，”人權觀察的執行董事肯尼思·羅斯在香港舉行的新聞發布會上表示，“工作環境很不友好。”

在一封電郵聲明中，騰訊表示已經調查相關事件，將立即整改。騰訊稱：“我們對出現的狀況感到抱歉，將迅速行動確保不會再次發生。騰訊重視多元化的背景，根據才華和能力招聘員工。”

百度表示，對相關招聘廣告深感遺憾，稱之屬于“個案”，不符合公司的價值觀，在人權觀察組織的報告發布前，公司就已撤下涉事廣告。百度稱，公司有45%的員工是女性，中高層職位上女性占比也類似。

阿里巴巴稱會定期審查招聘廣告，“明確規定”不看性別機會平等。阿里表示，女性員工占公司員工總數的47%，女性占管理層人員的三分之一。

艱難斗爭

大洋另一端的美國硅谷，科技公司正深陷歧視女性的指控，而從這份報告來看，中國職場性別歧視也是無處不在。這也顯示出，中國政府領導層若想兌現反對職場歧視的承諾要面臨多大挑戰。

從一些指標看，中國女性的生活環境已經改善。全球知名管理咨詢公司麥肯錫稱，中國的產婦死亡率下降，女性的高等教育入學率有所上升。麥肯錫定于本周二發布的報告稱，中國在抵制職場性別歧視方面的進步超過亞太區其他國家的平均水平。

麥肯錫在電郵聲明中表示：“中國科技業堪稱光輝榜樣，因為行業里的女性領導具有全球影響力。”

#MeToo標簽

報告發布之際，中國正努力控制日漸成型的反性騷擾運動#MeToo，審查了諸多類似#MeToo的社交媒體話題。在美國，已有多位知名的高管因性騷擾辭職或者被解雇，其中不乏好萊塢大牌制作人哈維·韋恩斯坦、美國全國廣播公司（NBC）主持人馬特·勞爾和亞馬遜影業主管羅伊·布萊斯之類名流。然而在中國，很少有人真正追究性騷擾。

在中國企業界，2017年1月，騰訊曾為公司部門年會上安排有性暗示的游戲道歉。在場者在網上發布的圖片顯示，參加游戲的女員工要雙膝跪地，用嘴打開夾在男員工雙腿中間的水瓶蓋。

人權觀察組織稱，歧視女性的不僅包括科技企業。研究人員分析2017年中央政府招聘要求發現，有1700多個崗位限制應聘者為男性或者男性優先，約占職位總數的13%。

世界經濟論壇2017年對各國女性經濟機會的排名中，中國排在全球第86位，較2016年第53位的排名出現下滑。同樣在世界經濟論壇對女性全球地位的調查中，中國在女性教育程度方面排在第102位，也低于2006年，當時排名第78位。在健康與生存方面，中國排第144位，和十年前的排名持平。在政治權利方面，中國排第77位，十年前排在第52位。

舊金山的一位天使投資人馬瑞（音譯）表示，中國職場女性在相貌上面對很大壓力。 “顏值”，字面意思就是外表指數，已成為日常工作中常見詞。

“顏值”指數

馬瑞說：“背后的潛臺詞就是，用‘顏值’判斷基本的工作能力很正常。沒有人提出質疑。乍聽起來非常無禮，但十分常見。要抵抗潮流相當困難。”

最近，總部位于北京的智能手機制造商小米的一名業務員在微信朋友圈透露，小米招聘時主要看“顏值”。眼下小米正努力通過首次公開募股（ICO）獲得1000億美元估值。他還說，小米的女員工都很漂亮，如果用上小米6X手機美顏濾鏡顏值更高。

面向女性企業家初創公司的新加坡風投機構SoGal Ventures創始人孫伊晴指出：“這讓男性可以根據外貌評判女性，類似措辭讓人覺得女性就應照此評價。”

小米公司在聲明中宣稱要打造公平的職場，始終秉持“高標準，確保公司內部（男女）平等。”（財富中文網）

譯者：Pessy

審稿：夏林

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Workplace discrimination in China often begins with help-wanted ads.

Job recruitment websites routinely feature advertisements from prominent technology employers such as Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu and Tencent Holdings for positions that are open only to men, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch on Monday.

And the New York-based group said job discrimination against women takes other forms: Chinese companies often have requirements on the height, weight, voice or appearance of female applicants that have nothing to do with their qualifications for the job. With the three big internet companies boasting they have “beautiful girls” or “goddesses,” those ads contribute to widespread gender discrimination in the workplace, Human Rights Watch said.

“Sexual objectification of women — treating women as a mere object of sexual desire — is prevalent in Chinese job advertising,” the report said.

Human Rights Watch analyzed more than 36,000 advertisements, most of them posted since 2013, on corporate and government websites and social media platforms. Researchers looked for terms related to gender preferences such as “men only” and “suitable for women.”

A search of Alibaba’s website in January found “men only” or “men preferred” ads for jobs including government affairs senior specialist and crowd-sourcing delivery manager, according to the report. Human Rights Watch said the e-commerce giant’s recruitment social media account published photos of young female employees and described them as “late night benefits.”

Tencent Apology

A Tencent ad featured a male employee saying the presence of beautiful women was one reason he joined the company, and in a Baidu ad a male staff said having attractive female colleagues was one reason he was happy at work, Human Rights Watch said.

“There’s just a blatant objectification of these women,” said Executive Director Kenneth Roth at a press briefing in Hong Kong. “This creates a hostile work environment.”

In an emailed statement, Tencent said it has investigated the incidents and will make immediate changes. “We are sorry they occurred and we will take swift action to ensure they do not happen again,” it said. “Tencent values diverse backgrounds and recruits staff based on talent and ability.”

Baidu said it ”deeply” regrets what it described as “isolated instances” of job postings that didn’t align with its values, and that the company had removed those ads before the report was released. Baidu said women account for 45% of its employees, with mid- and senior positions reflecting a similar number.

Alibaba said it conducts regular reviews of recruitment ads and has “well-defined guidelines” on providing equal opportunities regardless of gender. It said 47% of the company’s employees are women and women leaders occupy one-third of its management positions.

Uphill Battle

The report offers a glimpse into how ubiquitous sexist practices are in Chinese workplaces — as tech companies in Silicon Valley are struggling to combat allegationsof discrimination against women. It also underscores the challenges President Xi Jinping faces in trying to follow through on a pledge to fight against workplace discrimination.

By some measures, conditions have improved for women in China. Maternal mortality rates have declined and tertiary education rates have risen, according to McKinsey & Co. The management consultancy is set to release a report Tuesday showing China’s progress on workplace gender issues is above average compared with other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

“China’s technology sector stands out as a shining example of a space where female entrepreneurship has had global impact,” McKinsey said in an emailed statement.

#MeToo Hashtags

The reports come at a time when China has sought to control a nascent #MeToo movement, with the government censoring hashtags similar to #MeToo. While Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, NBC anchor Matt Lauer and Amazon Studios boss Roy Price are among prominent U.S. executives to have resigned or been fired because of sexual harassment, China hasn’t had a similar reckoning.

In the corporate world, Tencent in January 2017 apologized for a sexually suggestive game organized at a division’s annual party after attendees posted footage online of kneeling female staff who appeared to try to use their mouths to open water bottles tucked between men’s legs.

Tech companies aren’t the only employers that have discriminated against women, Human Rights Watch said. Of postings for central government jobs in 2017 that researchers analyzed, about 13% — or more than 1,700 postings — included a requirement or preference for male applicants.

China was 86th worldwide in a 2017 World Economic Forum ranking of countries offering the best economic opportunities to women, down from 53rd in 2006. In the same survey of women’s status worldwide, China ranked 102nd in educational attainment, down from No. 78 in 2006; China was 144th in health and survival, compared to 114th a decade earlier; China was 77th in political empowerment, down from 52nd.

Chinese women in the workplace face intense pressure based on their looks, said Rui Ma, a San Francisco-based angel investor. The term “yanzhi,” or physical appearance metric, is part of everyday business language, she said.

‘Yanzhi’ Metric

“The underlying idea is that it’s totally normal to rely on your ‘yanzhi’ as a primary job competence,” Ma said. “People don’t really question it. It sounds extremely offensive but it’s been normalized. It’s going to be extremely hard to fight.”

An operations staff member at Xiaomi, the Beijing-based smartphone maker that is targeting a $100 billion valuation in an initial public offering, said on the social media platform WeChat Moments recently that the company mostly looks at “yanzhi” when hiring. He also said Xiaomi’s female employees are beautiful — and are even more beautiful when using the Xiaomi 6X phone to take selfies.

“This gives men the liberty and entitlement to judge women based on their appearance,” said Pocket Sun, Singapore-based founder of SoGal Ventures, which invests in startups led by female entrepreneurs. “This kind of language leads people to think that this is the way women need to be judged.”

In a statement, Xiaomi said it is committed to fairness in the workplace and always places “high standards to ensure equality within the organization.”