The usual arguments for adding women directors are that diverse boards are more creative and innovative, less inclined to "group

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问题     The usual arguments for adding women directors are that diverse boards are more creative and innovative, less inclined to "groupthink" and likely to be more independent from senior management. Numerous studies show that high proportions of women directors coincide with superior corporate performance. But there is little academically accepted evidence of a causal relationship. It may be that thriving firms allow themselves the luxury of attending to social issues such as board diversity, whereas poorly performing ones batten down the hatches.
    Women do seem to be particularly effective board members at companies where things are going wrong. A 2008 paper on the impact of female directors by Renee Adams and Daniel Ferreira of the University of Queensland and the London School of Economics found that bosses of American firms whose shares perform poorly are more likely to be fired if the firm has a relatively high number of women directors. On average, however, the paper concluded that firms perform worse as the proportion of women on the board increases. There is certainly no shortage of companies capable of producing outstanding results with few or no women on the board.
    Nor is there any doubt that in many cases low female representation also reflects a lack of meritocracy (rule by merit) in corporate culture. In France, for instance, interlocking board memberships are common. Women, and many other deserving businesspeople, are excluded from the system.
    But what most prevents women from reaching the boardroom, say bosses and headhunters, is lack of hands-on experience of a firm’s core business. Too many women go into functional roles such as accounting, marketing or human resources early in their careers rather than staying in the mainstream, driving profits. Getting men to show up at every board meeting—an effect of having more women on boards—is all very well, but what firms really need is savvy business advice. Yet according to EPWN, the pipeline of female executives is "almost empty": women occupy only 3% of executive roles on boards, compared with 12% of non-executive ones.
    That suggests that the best way to increase the number of women on boards is to ensure that more women gain the right experience further down the corporate hierarchy. That may be a slower process than imposing a quota, but it is also likely to be a more meaningful and effective one.
By citing the example of French business, the author intends to show that ________.

选项 A、women are not qualified for applying for the interlocking board membership
B、male elite domination is common and justifiable in today’s business world
C、the absence of women on boards shows a lack of cultural belief called meritocracy
D、the reason why women can’t reach the boardroom is lack of management experience

答案C

解析 题干中提到的法国商界的例子在第_u段第二三句。例子都是为论点而服务的,而论点一般在事例的前后。第三段第一句亮出了一个鲜明的论点:女董事比例低反映了企业文化中缺少“任人唯贤”的理念(reflects a lack of meritocracy),而第三句中提到女性和一些有能力的人士却不能进入董事会正好说明了企业选拔人才存在偏见,而非任人唯贤,C项所述与第一句对应,故可确定C项为本题答案。由该段第三句中的deserving businesspeople可知,女性不能进入董事会并非因为本身的能力不足,而是由于企业本身带有偏见,据此可排除A项及D项。B项对错参半,男性精英主导企业高层的确很常见 (common),但这一做法并不合理(justifiable),故B项也错误。
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