????梅耶爾以優異成績畢業于斯坦福大學（Stanford），獲得了符號系統學理科學士學位和計算機科學碩士學位。之后加入谷歌（Google），成為谷歌的首位女性工程師。在37歲時加入雅虎，成為《財富》500強（Fortune 500）歷史上最年輕的CEO。（這一紀錄今年剛被Facebook的馬克?扎克伯格打破。）

????很明顯，梅耶爾的傳統科技專業光環，幫助她攀上了美國商界的最高層。獲得技術方面學位的女性通常并不多見，可令人意外的是，領導《財富》500強公司的女同胞們，也都曾獲得過科學或數學，以及其他技術領域的學位。在20位《財富》500強公司女性CEO中，超過一半獲得過所謂的STEM（科學、技術、工程與數學）學位。

????因此，IBM首席執行官羅睿蘭以優異成績獲得西北大學（Northwestern）計算機科學與電氣工程學學位，或者施樂公司（Xerox）CEO烏蘇拉?伯恩斯和杜邦公司（DuPont）首席執行官柯愛倫在大學學過機械工程學，也就不足為奇了。伯恩斯繼續獲得了哥倫比亞大學的機械工程學碩士學位，并從施樂公司的暑假實習生成為領導者。

????但誰會想到，這些女性CEO們都有STEM教育背景呢？

????百事可樂公司（PepsiCo）CEO盧英德在印度馬德拉斯基督教學院（Madras Christian College）學習過化學、物理和數學，后來獲得了印度管理學院（Indian Institute of Management）的研究生學位。

????雅芳公司（Avon）的謝莉?麥考伊擁有達特茅茨馬薩諸塞大學（University of Massachusetts）紡織化學專業理科學士學位，以及普林斯頓大學（Princeton）化學工程學專業碩士學位和羅格斯大學（Rutgers）MBA學位。

????艾琳?羅森菲爾德領導著從卡夫食品（Kraft Foods）分拆出來的巧克力生產商Mondelez，擁有市場營銷與統計學博士學位，以及MBA學位和康奈爾大學（Cornell）的心理學學士學位。

????食品原料加工公司Ingredion的CEO伊琳?戈登有自己的一套理論。她認為，要想在商場上取得成功，女性比男性更需要接受分析教育。戈登畢業于麻省理工學院（MIT），并被接納為學生聯誼社（Phi Beta Kappa，美國大學里的一種榮譽組織，只有優秀的學生才能參加──譯注）成員，擁有數學專業理科學士學位和MBA學位，最開始的時候，戈登從事的職業是數學老師，后來加入波士頓咨詢集團（Boston Consulting Group），在那里，她發現不具備分析能力的女性“在職業發展早期就會遇到阻礙?！?/p>

????戈登表示：和男性相比，“女性缺乏信心”或影響力，來運用手腕提出自己的觀點。她所領導的食品原料加工公司Ingredion目前價值65億美元，在公司13名高管中，有五位女性，其中包括首席財務官。作為一名號稱高處不勝寒（至少從性別標準來看）的女老板，戈登表示：“擁有分析學位，可以讓女性與男性旗鼓相當，甚至超越男性?！保ㄘ敻恢形木W）

????翻譯：劉進龍/汪浩

????As Marissa Mayer stood with David Karp to announce Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr on Monday, you couldn't help but notice the vast educational divide between the two principals. Karp dropped out of Bronx High School of Science and went on to create a blogging platform worth $1.1 billion. Mayer graduated with honors from Stanford, earning a B.S. in Symbolic Systems and a Master's in Computer Science--then went to Google (GOOG) as its first female engineer and on to Yahoo (YHOO) to become, at 37,the youngest CEO in the Fortune 500. (Until Facebook (FB) Mark Zuckerberg nabbed that distinction.)

????Mayer's traditional tech cred clearly helped propel her to corporate America's highest level. What's surprising, given the well-known dearth of women earning tech degrees, is that Mayer's female compatriots who lead Fortune 500 companies also tend to have earned diplomas in science or math or some other technical area. More than half of the 20 female Fortune 500 CEOs graduated with so-called STEM degrees--in science, tech, engineering or mathematics.

????Granted, it's no surprise that IBM (IBM) chief Ginni Rometty graduated with high honors in computer science and electrical engineering from Northwestern. Or that Xerox (XRX) CEO Ursula Burns and DuPont (DD) chief

????Ellen Kullman studied mechanical engineering in college. Burns, who went on to get a Master's in mechanical engineering at Columbia, rose from summer intern at Xerox to lead the company.

????But who would have expected these women chiefs to have STEM backgrounds?...

????PepsiCo's (PEP) Indra Nooyi studied chemistry, physics, and math at Madras Christian College in India before getting her graduate degree at Indian Institute of Management.

????Avon's (AVP) Sheri McCoy has a B.S. in textile chemistry from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, plus a Master's in chemical engineering from Princeton and an MBA from Rutgers.

????Irene Rosenfeld, who leads Mondelez (MDLZ)--split off from Kraft Foods--has a Ph.D. in Marketing and Statistics, plus an MBA and B.A. in Psychology, from Cornell.

????Ingredion (INGR) CEO Ilene Gordon has a theory. She believes that women, more than men, need an analytical education to succeed in business. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of MIT, with a B.S. in mathematics and an MBA, Gordon began her career as a math teacher and moved to Boston Consulting Group, where she noticed that women without analytical chops "often get snowed early in their careers."

????"Women don't have the confidence" or the clout, Gordon says, to put forth ideas with the finesse that men tend to have. She has five women, including her CFO, on her 13-member executive team at Ingredion, a $6.5 billion ingredient company. Speaking as a boss who is lonely at the top, at least by gender standards, Gordon adds, "An analytical degree puts you on par or ahead of the men."