China, having transformed itself from one of the world’s poorest to richest countries in the past three decades, isn’t without its Oprah Winfrey-like iconic billonaire women. Yet it’s a man’s world among young entrepreneurs, at least based on the new “30 Under 30” list of outstanding entrepreneurs under 30 years of age released this week by Forbes China, the licensed Chinese-language edition of Forbes magazine. Why do relatively few young women look to become entrepreneurs in China? How do obstacles to entrepreneurial success differ for young men and women in the country? In which industries are women entrepreneurs likely to be relatively successful?
过去30年间，中国从一个“一穷二白”的国家一跃成为全球经济强国，在这一历程中，不是没有浮现类似奥普拉·温弗瑞（Oprah Winfrey）这样的标志性女性富豪。然而，中国的年轻企业家群体却是男性的天下，我们至少可以从《福布斯》中文版上周发布的“中国30位30岁以下创业者”榜单中看出这一点。那么，为什么仅有相对较少的中国年轻女性渴望成为企业家呢？对于中国希望创出一番事业的年轻男性和女性而言，通往成功的道路上究竟有哪些不同的障碍？相对而言，女性企业家在哪些领域更容易取得成功？
I exchanged about these questions by email with Anthea Zhang, a professor of management at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai who has conducted research about women in business in the country. Anthea is on leave from the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. Excerpts follow.
带着这些问题，我与上海的中欧国际工商学院（China Europe International Business School）的管理学教授，对中国女企业家群体颇有研究的张燕（Anthea Zhang）教授以电邮的方式进行了交流。张燕女士此前任职于美国莱斯大学（Rice University）琼斯商学院（Jones Graduate School of Business）。这次访谈的摘要如下：
Q. This year’s Forbes China 30 Under 30 List has only one female member, Zhang Yan. Does that surprise you?
问：几年的“福布斯中国30位30岁以下创业者”榜单中仅有一位女性，张妍。你对这个结果感到惊讶吗？
A. There is only one female on this year’s Forbes China 30 Under 30 List while there are seven females on this year’s U.S. 30 Under 30 List (highlighted at ForbesChina.com). The gender imbalance of the China list is probably due to the types of industries represented. A majority of the 30 startups on the China list are in the IT-related and particularly Internet-related industries, which seem to be dominated by males. In contrast, the U.S. list covers a broad range of industries including Internet, finance, bio-technology and media.
答 ：《福布斯》中文版今年发布的“中国30位30岁以下创业者”榜单中仅有一位女性，而今年“美国30位30岁以下创业者”榜单中则有7位女性。中国榜单的性别比例失衡或许与上榜的产业类型有关。中国榜单上30家初创公司大多处于与信息技术（IT）——特别是与互联网相关的产业，在这些产业中，男性似乎占据了主导地位。相比之下，美国榜单覆盖到的产业类型更加广泛，包括互联网、金融、生物技术和传媒。
Figure 1 below shows female representation on boards of directors of China’s publicly-listed companies in 1999-2010. The proportion of female directors increased from 9.2% in 1999 to 11.7% in 2010. The proportion was higher in non-state-owned-enterprises (e.g., 13.7% in 2010) than in SOEs (e.g., 10% in 2010) in any given year. For a comparison, the Fortune 500 companies saw 15.7% of their directorships occupied by females in 2010.
图1显示了中国上市公司董事会在1999年至2010年这段时间女性董事人数的变化趋势。女性董事所占比例从1999年的9.2%增加至2010年的11.7%。在任何既定年份中，非国有企业的女性董事比例均高于国有企业。比如，在2010年，前者为13.7%，后者则为10%。我们可以拿这些数据与财富500强企业进行比较。2010年，财富500强企业女性董事的比例为15.7% 。
Q. So on the Forbes 30 Under 30 reports, there are fewer women listed than men. In what ways are the obstacles to starting a business in China the same for young men and women entrepreneurs? In what ways are they different?
问 ：在福布斯中文版的“30位30岁以下创业者”报道中，女性的数量少于男性。当年轻男性和女性企业家在中国创办一家企业时，他们将面临哪些相同的障碍？又有哪些障碍因性别而异？
A. In some industries – for instance, Internet-related industries, the lack of financial resources is no longer the main obstacle to starting businesses because of both government and private funding. A major obstacle, for both male and female entrepreneurs, is mentoring. That is, who can help them to develop a new idea into a successful business model and how to grow a small business into a large and sustainable one?
答 ：在一些产业中，比如与互联网相关的产业，由于政府和私人两方面的资金供给，财力不足已经不再是创业的主要障碍。不管是男性还是女性企业家，他们所面临的一大障碍在于缺乏指导。也就是说，谁能够帮助他们把一个崭新的创意发展成为一个成功的商业模式？谁能够帮助他们引领一家小企业持续成长，进而发展成为一家大公司呢？
The obstacles are different for male and female entrepreneurs in two important ways. One is cultural. Chinese culture encourages females to settle down early. Thus, many young female Chinese still prefer a secure job such as working for government to starting her own business. The other is funding agents’ preferences. Expecting that startups in the IT/Internet industry are more likely to have an IPO, many funding agents (especially private ones) prefer startups in these industries, which seem to be dominated by male entrepreneurs.
男性和女性企业家在两个重要方面所遇到的障碍是不同的。一个是文化。中国文化鼓励女性尽早安顿下来。于是，中国许多年轻女性现在依然青睐一份稳定的工作，比如当公务员，而不是自己创业。另一个是资金提供者的偏好。许多资金提供者（尤其是私人提供者）认为，信息技术或互联网产业的初创公司更有可能获得IPO机会，他们非常青睐这些产业的初创公司，而这些领域似乎是男性创业者的天下。
Q. Do you see any sign that obstacles for women will ease in the longer term?
问：从长远来看，女性企业家面临的这些障碍是否将缓解？你有没有看到与此相关的迹象？
A. Cultural change will take a long time. Funding priorities may change in the longer term if the government funding agents can devote financial resources to a broader range of industries. Funding agents’ preferences may also change as the IT/internet startups fall out of favor in the IPO market.
答 ：文化的改变需要很长的时间。如果国有金融机构能够把财力资源投向更广泛的产业领域，那么拨款的优先次序在短期内就有望得以改善。随着信息或互联网初创企业在IPO市场逐渐失宠，资金提供者的偏好也有可能改变。
Q. According to a recent survey by Grant Thornton, women hold half of senior management jobs in China, the highest percentage in the world. To what extent does that create a pool of entrepreneurial women to come forth and get involved in setting up their own businesses in the future?
问 ：根据均富会计师事务所（Grant Thornton）最近的一项调查，在中国，女性占据了一半高级管理职位，这一比例为世界之最。有鉴于此，你认为未来究竟会有多少女性高管愿意走出来，自己开创一番事业？
A. I am not sure how “senior management jobs” were defined in the Grant Thornton survey. I have studied female representation at corporate leadership roles (CEO and board chair positions) of China’s publicly-listed companies. As shown in Figure 2, the proportion of female board chairs remained stable over time—3.7% in 1997 and 4.0% in 2010. Non-SOEs saw more female board chairs than SOEs. Moreover, Figure 3 demonstrates that the proportion of female CEOs increased from 4.6% in 1997 to 5.6% in 2010. The rise of female CEOs was mainly driven by the non-SOE sector. Some of the female board chairs/CEOs are successful entrepreneurs, such as Zhang Yin of Nine Dragons Paper Holdings. They shall encourage future female entrepreneurship in two important ways: (1) increasing young females’ aspiration and (2) providing mentoring to young female entrepreneurs.
答 ：我不知道均富会计师事务所是如何给“高级管理职位”下定义的。我研究过中国上市公司领导层（CEO和董事长）中女性所占的比重。如图2所示，很长时间以来，女性董事长所占比重一直非常稳定——1997年为3.7% ，2010年为4.0%。非国有企业的女性董事长比重大于国有企业。此外，图3显示，女性CEO所占比重也从1997的4.6% 增加至2010的5.6%。女性CEO的崛起主要是非国有经济部门带动的。有些女董事长或女CEO是非常成功的企业家，比如玖龙纸业（控股）有限公司（Nine Dragons Paper Holdings）的张茵女士。这些成功故事将在两个非常重要的方面鼓励未来女性企业家的成长：(1) 增强年轻女性的抱负；(2) 为年轻的女企业家提供指引。
Q. Women that have made the Forbes China Rich List over the years tend to come from the real estate industry — such as Zhang Xin from Soho China, or food-related businesses, such as Daisy Poon from Ajisen. Will those industries continue to be a main source of entrepreneurial success for women in the future? Will other industries become important?
问 ：这些年来许多跻身福布斯中国富豪榜的女性都来自房地产业——比如Soho中国（Soho China）的张欣，或与食品相关的行业，比如味千（中国）控股有限公司（Ajisen）的潘慰（Daisy Poon）。在未来，这些产业是否还将继续成为女性企业家成功的主要源泉？还有没有其他产业会成为女性企业家开创事业的重要领域？
A. These industries will continue to be a main source for entrepreneurial success for women in the future. Other industries such as media and service industries, where females have competitive advantages, may also have potential.
答 ：在未来，这些产业将继续成为女性企业家成功的主要源泉。其他产业，比如女性拥有竞争优势的媒体和服务业，或许也有这种潜力。
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