Women Breaking with Traditions in the Business World 土耳其婦女打破商界傳統

⊙By Nihal Kayali ⊙ 翻譯：T Boy

Women Breaking with Traditions in the Business World 土耳其婦女打破商界傳統

⊙By Nihal Kayali ⊙ 翻譯：T Boy

婦女在八十多年前就有選舉權，但大部分婦女至今沒有屬于自己的銀行賬戶，這聽起來很怪異，但也是土耳其婦女地位的真實寫照。那里的婦女用自己的努力一點一點地改變著這種現狀，比如從一家糖果店開始……

In Turkey, traditions1)die hard. Just2)peek into Istanbul’s old city. That’s where you can still find3)coppersmiths,carpet sellers and4)vendors measuring out dried fruit and nuts with metal weights. And, for as long as anyone can remember, those doing the selling have been men; still are.But times are changing.

Men pull wooden5)carts down6)cobblestone streets,heading to the covered markets of the Grand Bazaar,just as they have for 500 years. Hakan Altan stands by the open door of the candy shop his great-greatgrandfather started a century and a half ago. He’s worked here since he was five. “Candy making is a

1) die hard 根深蒂固，頑固到底

2) peek [pi?k] v. 一瞥

3) coppersmith ['k?p?sm?θ] n. 銅匠

4) vendor ['vend?（r）] n. 小販

5) cart [kɑ?t] n. 手推車

6) cobblestone ['k?bl?st??n] n. （鋪路的）圓石，鵝卵石

Turkish art,” Hakan tells me.

Inside the shop, traditional7)sweets are8)stacked from floor to ceiling: Turkish Delights dusted in powdered sugar, hard candies flavored with9)rosewater, orange and10)pistachio, and Halva—11)crushed sesame seeds and honey. On the walls there are yellowing photos of Hakan’s ancestors.There’s nothing modern here. Well, there is one thing.

Arzu (Hakan’s Daughter): My name’s Arzu, I’m 27 years old. I’m a mathematical engineer and I’m working as marketing manager.

This is Arzu, Hakan’s daughter, his only child. If the business is going to stay in the family, she’s going to have to take it over, and a woman taking over a business just doesn’t happen here in the old city. It’s still a man’s world.

Arzu: People are thinking that womans [sic]have less information than the man. These kind of people are the old people. He [sic]thinking, “OK, where is your father?” “Come on, I will ask Dad.”

You can12)barely find a woman running a business in the old13)quarters. And, across Turkey, most women still don’t have bank accounts. This is slowly changing as more young Turkish women are breaking with tradition, entering university, starting careers and earning salaries of their own. But that’s not happening here in the old city yet,where a woman like Arzu still looks out of place with her14)neon sneakers and iPhone,walking past the coppersmiths and traditional dusty carpet shops. She knows it’s gonna be a big challenge winning over customers’ trust when she takes over the candy shop.

The family knows it needs to adapt to changing times. The pressures of globalization, cheap candy15)flooding in from16)elsewhere, and lately, tourists17)scared away by terrorist attacks. This is where Arzu comes in. The family hopes her education and18)sophistication will keep the business alive. And she actually thinks being a woman will be an advantage.

Arzu: Woman [sic] are seeing the whole picture. Woman [sic] knows, understanding the customers’ needs. They are thinking more delicately than the man. Besides, they’re more sensitive than the others.

More sensitive and perhaps more outward. She thinks there’s an19)untapped market for selling the candy overseas, and she’s developing a marketing plan to take advantage of that.

As we’re talking, Arzu’s 93-year-old grandfather20)totters in. It21)strikes me that he has spent his whole life between the shop and the street. He’s clearly proud that his granddaughter’s educated and living in a larger world. And as for passing the shop on to a woman, “Of course, of course,” he tells me as Arzu listens on, “Why not?”

7) sweet [swi?t] n. 糖果

8) stack [st?k] v. 疊，摞

9) rosewater ['r??zw??t?（r）] n. 玫瑰香水

10) pistachio [p?'st?????] n. 開心果

11) crushed [kr??d] adj. 壓碎的

12) barely ['be?l?] adv. 幾乎沒有

13) quarter ['kw??t?（r）] n. 區域

14) neon ['ni??n] n. 霓虹燈

15) fl ood [fl?d] v. 大量涌來，涌到

16) elsewhere ['els'we?（r）] prep. 在別處，到別處

17) scare [ske?（r）] v. 恐嚇，驚嚇

18) sophistication [s?f?st?'ke???n] n. 先進方法

19) untapped [?n't?pt] adj. 未使用的，未開采的

20) totter ['t?t?（r）] v. 蹣跚

21) strike [stra?k] v. 突然想到，猛然悟到

This is where Arzu comes in.

動詞詞組come in除了最基本的“進入，進來”義項外，還有許多用法，其中一種就是文中的這句話，come in在這里是“在某事中發揮作用”的意思，指阿爾祖成為整個局面的一部分，參與其中，并起到積極的作用。This/which is where sb./sth. comes in是come in這種用法的常見句式，where指此句之前講述的形勢，說明談論的對象正是在這其中發揮作用，這個對象可以是人，也可以是機構，也可以是某種工具，如：Finally,he could do no more, which is where Jacques came in.（最后，他再也無能為力了，這也正是雅克發揮作用的時候。）

在土耳其，舊傳統無比頑固。你只要看看伊斯坦布爾的老城區就知道了：在那里，你還會看到銅匠和地毯商販，還有售賣干果和堅果仁時用金屬秤砣的小販，而且，在人們的記憶里，售賣東西的都是男人，如今也一樣，但時代正在慢慢改變。

男人們像過去五百年一樣，拉著木制手推車，在鵝卵石鋪成的街道上朝大巴扎集市的室內市場走去。哈坎·阿爾坦站在他家糖果店敞開的大門前。這家店是他的高祖父150年前開的，他自五歲起就在這里勞作。“糖果制作是土耳其的一門藝術，”他這樣對我說。

在店里，從地板到天花板都堆滿了傳統糖果。這里有灑著糖粉的土耳其軟糖、含有玫瑰水、香橙和開心果味的硬糖，還有用碾碎的芝麻拌蜂蜜做成的哈爾瓦酥糖。墻上掛著哈坎家先輩發黃的照片。這里沒有一樣東西是帶有現代色彩的。哦，有一樣。

阿爾祖（哈坎的女兒）：我叫阿爾祖，今年27歲，是一名數學工程師，現在的職業是市場營銷經理。

阿爾祖是哈坎的女兒，也是他唯一的孩子。如果糖果店的生意要繼續留在家族里的話，她就將掌管家里的生意。可是老城區還從來沒有女性接管家族生意的先例，這里依然是男人的天下。

阿爾祖：人們認為女性掌握的資訊不如男性多，有這種想法的都是些老人。他會想：“好吧，你爸爸在哪里？”“好了，我要問一下你老爸。”

在老城區，你很難找到掌管企業的女性。在整個土耳其，大多數婦女至今沒有自己的銀行賬戶。盡管越來越多的年輕土耳其女性正打破傳統，上大學，開始自己的工作，掙工資，但這一切尚未發生在老城區。走在大街上，腳踏霓虹運動鞋，手握蘋果手機，經過一家家銅器店和布滿灰塵的傳統地毯店，像阿爾祖這樣的女性顯得格格不入。她明白當她接手糖果店時，要贏得顧客的信任將是莫大的考驗。

但這個家也明白他們必須與時俱進。全球化帶來的壓力、從其他地方涌入的廉價糖果，還有近來被恐怖襲擊嚇跑的游客——阿爾祖正好可以在這個時候發揮作用。家里希望她所受的教育和掌握的現代知識會讓家族生意繼續下去。而她則認為，身為女性實際上是一種優勢。

阿爾祖：女性會看清全局。女性明白顧客的需要，她們的思維比男性的更加細膩。此外，她們對他人的感覺更為敏感。

更為敏感，或許也更為開放。她認為海外有尚未開發的糖果市場，她正在構思一個開發海外市場的營銷計劃。

就在我們交談的時候，阿爾祖那93歲高齡的爺爺蹣跚著走進糖果店。我忽然想到，他這一輩子都在這家店和這條街上度過。他顯然對自己受過教育、生活范圍大大超過前人的孫女備感驕傲。在把家族生意交給一個女人這個事情上，他對我說：“為什么不可以呢？”阿爾祖當時就在他身邊

。