经济学人:平等的力量 女性该如何平衡家庭和工作?

 　　Finance and economics: Women and work The power of parity²

　　财经：女人和工作，平等的力量

　　The world would be a much richer place if more women had paying jobs.

　　如果更多女性参与有偿工作，世界将会更加富裕。

　　Joan Rivers, a comedian³ who died last year, did not let chores get in the way of a career in show business.

　　去年过世的喜剧演员Joan Rivers从没有让家务事影响到她的演艺事业。

　　“I hate housework,” she joked.

　　她曾戏谑道：“我讨厌家务事。

　　女性的工作与生活.jpg

　　“You make the beds, you do the dishes, and six months later, you have to start all over again.”

　　整理床铺，洗涤碗筷，而且半年之后还得再来一次。”

　　An escape from unpaid⁴ drudgery⁵ into paid work seems a distant prospect⁶ for millions of women.

　　从无偿的劳累家务中逃离，投入到有偿工作中，对数百万女性来说似乎遥不可及。

　　In South Asia, for instance, women carry out up to 90% of unpaid care work, including cooking, cleaning, and looking after children and the elderly.

　　例如在南亚，高达90%的无偿工作由女性承担，包括煮饭，清洁，照顾孩子和老人。

　　They are far less visible than men in work outside the home.

　　在家庭之外的工作场合，女性的身影比男性要少见得多。

　　Women make up less than a quarter of the paid workforce⁷ in India and account for just 17% of GDP, a measure of output that excludes unwaged work.

　　在印度，她们占据不到劳动力的1/4，在不计无偿工作的情况下，甚至仅占GDP的17%。

　　By contrast, women contribute 41% of GDP in China.

　　相比之下，中国女性贡献GDP的比例高达41%。

　　A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) , a think-tank, underlines how gender⁸ inequality in work and society is itself distributed unequally across the world.

　　智囊团麦肯锡全球研究所（MGI）的一份新报道强调就业时的性别不平等现象在世界各地分布不均是一个全世界的普遍现象。

　　The number-crunchers at McKinsey calculated gender-parity scores—gauges of how women fare at work and in society in comparison with men—covering over 90% of the world's population.

　　麦肯锡的超级计算机基于女性与男性相比在工作和社会中的表现，计算出了性别平等分值，样本覆盖了全球90%的人口。

　　They reckon South Asia (India excluded) is the global laggard⁹ with a score of 0.44 (a score of one represents perfect parity between the sexes) .

　　他们认为，南亚（印度除外）是全球的相对落伍者，分值只有0.44（分值1表示最完美的性别平等）。

　　Richer parts of the world do a lot better but are still a long way from complete gender equality.

　　富裕地区做得好得多，但距离完全性别平等则还有很长一段路要走。

　　North America and Oceania, the best-ranked region, has a score of 0.74.

　　在北美洲及大洋洲，即使排名最前，分值也只有0.74。

　　It is hard to put a number on the social costs of this but the McKinsey folk take a stab at estimating the loss of economic output that goes with it.

　　很难用数字去说明这情况的社会成本。但是麦肯锡仍然设法估算了经济产出的损失。

　　Other studies find that countries could boost their GDP by 5-20% if women's participation¹⁰ in the workforce was on a par¹ with men's.

　　其他研究也发现，如果女性在工作上的参与率能与男性一样，那么很多国家GDP将增加5~20%。

　　But that captures only part of the lost output.

　　但那仅仅抵消了部分的产出损失。

　　Even in rich bits of the world, where women are close to half the paid workforce, they tend to work fewer hours than men and in jobs with lower productivity, not to mention lower pay as a result of pure discrimination.

　　即使在那些女性劳动参与率接近一半的富裕地区，相比男性，她们也因为工作产出较差而倾向工作时间较短，更别提单纯因性别歧视而造成的低收入了。

　　If the gender gaps in participation, hours worked and productivity were all bridged, the world economy would be $28.4 trillion (or 26%) richer, McKinsey reckons.

　　麦肯锡还认为，假使因性别差异而造成的参与率、工时差异、生产力都能弥平，那么全球经济的富裕程度将增加28.4万亿美元（或26%）。

　　The potential gains are proportionately greater in places where fewer women are in paid work.

　　在女性少有参与有偿工作的地方，这种潜在收入会相应的增加。

　　India, for instance, could be 60% richer.

　　例如印度可能会增富60%。

　　A more realistic target is for countries to close their gender gaps at the rate achieved by the country in their region with the best recent record in this respect.

　　比较有可能实现的目标是将全球各国在自己区域为了缩小性别差异曾经创造的最好记录计算。

　　That would add $12 trillion to global output by 2025, according to McKinsey's calculations, other things being equal (which they almost certainly will not be) .

　　根据麦肯锡的计算，当其他因素相同的情况下（几乎可以确定不可能），到2025年全球产出将增加12万亿美元。

　　The policies that would quicken a closing of the gender gap at work, such as keeping girls at school for longer and providing better legal protections for women, are in the gift of government.

　　国家可以为了加快缩小两性间差异而采取一些措施，譬如为女性提供更长时间的教育或者为妇女提供更好的法律保护，这对国家也是一种回馈。

　　Women whose level of education is on a par with men are more likely to find well-paid jobs in technical professions.

　　在同等学历下，女性更容易在技术专业领域上找到更高薪的工作。

　　They are also more likely to share unpaid work more equitably¹¹ with men—or, at least, to be able to claim, as Rivers did, that the dullest chores can wait for another six months.

　　她们也会因此更愿意与男性平等分担无酬的工作，或者至少能像Rivers 那样宣称：最乏味的家务可以再等六个月。

　　1.get in the way 妨碍；阻碍

　　例句:Big business will never let petty nationalism get in the way of a good deal.

　　大企业永远不会让狭隘的民族主义妨碍它们做大好的买卖。

　　2.at least 至少

　　例句:This new transformation¹² is at least as consequential¹³ as that one was.

　　这一新的转变至少和那次一样重要。

　　3.well-paid jobs 高薪工作

　　例句:I went to college, meanwhile, all my friends got well-paid jobs.

　　我上大学去了，那时，我的朋友都找到了收入不错的工作。

　　4.gender gap 性别差异

　　例句:Women's perceived role in society has a bearing on the gender gap in other ways.

　　人们认为的女性的社会角色也对这种性别鸿沟有贡献。

1 par   

n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的

参考例句：

• Sales of nylon have been below par in recent years.近年来尼龙织品的销售额一直不及以往。
• I don't think his ability is on a par with yours.我认为他的能力不能与你的能力相媲美。

2 parity   

n.平价，等价，比价，对等

参考例句：

• The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
• Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。

3 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

4 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

5 drudgery   

n.苦工，重活，单调乏味的工作

参考例句：

• People want to get away from the drudgery of their everyday lives.人们想摆脱日常生活中单调乏味的工作。
• He spent his life in pointlessly tiresome drudgery.他的一生都在做毫无意义的烦人的苦差事。

6 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

7 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

8 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

9 laggard   

n.落后者；adj.缓慢的，落后的

参考例句：

• In village,the laggard living condition must be improved.在乡村落后的生活条件必须被改善。
• Businesshas to some degree been a laggard in this process.商业在这个进程中已经慢了一拍。

10 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

11 equitably   

公平地

参考例句：

• We should equitably assess historical figures. 我们应该公正地评价历史人物。
• Land was more equitably distributed. 土地得到更公平合理的分配。

12 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

13 consequential   

adj.作为结果的，间接的；重要的

参考例句：

• She was injured and suffered a consequential loss of earnings.她受了伤因而收入受损。
• This new transformation is at least as consequential as that one was.这一新的转变至少和那次一样重要。