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Under Japanese civil code, business families with no son to carry on the family name can turn to an unusual solution: adopt one. Around 10 per cent of business-owning families with no male heir adopt a son, says Kazunori Kaneko of the consultancy Business Succession Center.
按照日本民法，没有男性继承人来传承家族姓氏的经商家族可以另辟蹊径：收养一子。在咨询机构“企业继承中心”(Business Succession Center)任职的Kazunori Kaneko称，在没有男性继承人的经商家族中，约有10%选择收养一子。
Japan is not the only country where family businesses will go to some lengths to hand over control of the company to a man. Nor is it the only country where family business leaders can be determined to hand over to someone who will continue the family name, although this practice is not often seen today.
并非只有日本的家族企业会尽可能地确保将企业掌门人之位传给男性。另外，也并非只有日本的家族企业掌门人会一门心思要传位给一个能够延续家族姓氏的继承人——虽然这种情况如今并不常见。
“No Chinese man would want to change his name,” says Annie Koh, professor of finance at Singapore Management University. “But in the past few years because of the one-child policy in China, if the family firm is fixated with their own surname, in rare cases you have found a man who will change his name.”
“没有哪个中国男人愿意改姓，”新加坡管理大学(Singapore Management University)的教授许茵妮(Annie Koh)说。“但在过去几年，由于中国的独生子女政策，倘若家族企业执着于延续其姓氏，在个别情况下，你可能会发现某位男士改姓。”
That desire to preserve the family name might have been one factor that has prevented women from rising to the top of family businesses in some countries, but experts say other explanations for historical discrimination have been even harder to overcome.
延续家族姓氏的愿望，可能阻碍了一些国家的女性成为家族企业领导人，但专家们表示，导致这种历史性歧视的另外一些因素更加难以克服。
Sometimes the barriers have been legal. In what was then West Germany, for example, married women only gained the right to work without their husband’s permission in 1977, says Dominique Otten-Pappas, senior research fellow and assistant professor of German family businesses at the University of Witten/Herdecke.
这些阻碍有时是合法的。比如以前的西德，只有到了1977年，已婚妇女才无须丈夫允许就能出去工作，维藤/黑尔德克大学(University of Witten/Herdecke)研究德国家族企业的高级研究员兼助理教授多米尼克?奥滕-帕帕斯(Dominique Otten-Pappas)说。
“Before that, a husband could forbid his wife from working and this had repercussions for family businesses,” she says.
“在那之前，丈夫可以禁止妻子工作，这对家族企业造成了不良影响，”她说。
Even today, resistance to women inheriting the family business persists. “Probably some of the males in my generation see it as a given that it is their right to succeed,” a third-generation female respondent from New Zealand told researchers for PwC’s 2016 Next Generation survey, which examined the views of the next generation of family business leaders and included a special section entitled: The Female Perspective.
即使在今天，女性继承家族企业依然面临阻力。在普华永道(PwC) 2016年题为《下一代》(Next Generation)的调查中，一位受访的新西兰女性第三代继承人对研究者表示：“我这代人中的一些男士很可能认为，继承权必然是属于他们的。”这项调查考察了家族企业下一代领导人的观点，并包含一个特别章节，标题为：女性视角(The Female Perspective)。
Nevertheless, such attitudes appear to the shifting. In the same PwC survey, 30 per cent of the women interviewed had a seat on the board (in the US only about 21 per cent of board seats at S&P 500 are held by women, according to Catalyst, a pressure group that works to improve representation of women in the workplace). And more than 50 per cent of the women interviewed did not think their gender would be a barrier to them running the family business, according to the 2016 survey.
然而，这种态度似乎正在转变。在普华永道的这份调查中，30%的女性受访者是董事会成员（致力于推进职场性别平等的组织Catalyst称，在美国标准普尔500(S&P 500)成分股企业中，只有21%的董事会职位由女性占据）。普华永道2016年的那项调查显示，超过50%的女性受访者不认为自己的性别会妨碍她们经营家族企业。
In addition to the shifting attitudes towards women in the workforce, demographics are playing a role, with the global trend towards having fewer children pushing up the number of women leading family businesses.
除了职场中人们对女性的态度有所转变外，人口统计学也在发生作用，全球少子化趋势推动了家族企业女性领导者数量的提升。
China is an extreme example of this. The decades in which limits were placed on childbirth have left families with little choice. “Because of the one-child policy, you’re seeing more China family firms willing to have the daughter take over,” says Prof Koh.
中国是这方面的一个极端例子。几十年的计划生育令许多家族别无选择。“由于独生子女政策，人们看到更多的中国家族企业同意让女儿接班，”许教授说。
Sian Steele, head of PwC’s family business group in the UK, sees the growing desire to become more strategic as a powerful driver of increased gender diversity in the leadership of family businesses. “There’s a strong emphasis on professionalising their governance, making sure they have a clear strategy and that the succession plan is based on skills and not gender,” she says.
普华永道英国家族企业团队的负责人沙恩?斯蒂尔(Sian Steele)认为，人们希望企业更具战略性，这有力地推动了家族企业领导层的性别均衡。“治理的专业性很受重视，要确保领导者有清晰的战略，且继承人的选拔取决于能力而不是性别，”她说。
Whether or not it involves relatives, this approach appears to be favouring senior level gender diversity in family businesses. In EY’s 2017 Women in leadership report, 70 per cent of family businesses were considering a woman for their next chief executive and 30 per cent were “strongly considering” this.
不管没有亲缘关系，这种做法似乎都有利于实现家族企业高层领导人性别的均衡。2017年安永(EY)关于女性领袖的报告显示，70%的家族企业正在考虑让一位女性担任下一任首席执行官，且30%的企业表示它们在“认真考虑”这样做。
In many parts of the world, growing access to education for women and girls has made a difference, says Fiona Moore, a professor at the school of management at Royal Holloway, University of London. “It means you have women who are better educated, better able to take over the business and possibly more assertive.”
在世界许多地方，妇女和女童有更多机会接受教育，这已带来改变，伦敦大学(University of London)皇家霍洛威管理学院(school of management at Royal Holloway)教授菲奥娜?摩尔(Fiona Moore)说。“这意味着现在的女性受过更好的教育，能够更好地接班，可能还更有决断力。”
Some see increased female leadership as a positive development for family businesses. “It dramatically increases family talent pools, helps with succession planning and can make firms more sustainable,” says Adam Rowse, head of business banking at Barclays. “It also helps avoid situations where a son feels a particular obligation to work in the family firm when they would prefer another career.”
一些人认为女性领袖的增加对家族企业有积极影响。“这极大地扩充了家族的人才储备，有助于继承人的安排，也能令公司更久地传承下去，”巴克莱(Barclays)商业银行业主管亚当?罗斯(Adam Rowse)说。“这也避免了那种情况——儿子感到有义务效力于家族企业，但他真正感兴趣的其实是其他的事情。”
Ms Steele believes the benefits could extend beyond the sector itself. “In 10 to 15 years, you could see some significant family businesses being led by women,” she says. “That’s a great opportunity to create role models.”
斯蒂尔认为由此带来的好处也许不仅仅限于家族企业。“在今后的10年到15年，你将看到一些由女性领导的重要家族企业，”她说。“这是创建女性楷模的大好时机。”
