美国国家公共电台 NPR Analysis Shows Women Lost Jobs In Retail Last Year, Though Men Gained

 

LAUREN FRAYER, HOST:

By now, you'd better have your holiday shopping done. Maybe you did more of it online this year. Easy for you but bad for your local mall - brick-and-mortar stores are losing jobs. And it turns out some workers are hit harder than others. A new analysis shows that last year women in retail¹ lost jobs while men actually gained them. Heidi Hartmann is an author on the study. She's with the Institute for Women's Policy Research. And she joins us in studio to explain. Hi, Heidi. Thank you for coming in.

HEIDI HARTMANN: Oh, It's a pleasure to be with you.

FRAYER: So what exactly did your analysis find?

HARTMANN: Well, we found that women lost hundreds of thousands of jobs in retail over the last year, and men gained more than 100,000 jobs. And we were quite surprised because we think of retail trade as a women's industry.

FRAYER: Right.

HARTMANN: And the biggest losses for women were in general merchandise stores. And the biggest gains for men were in the same kind of stores. And that's the hugest part of retail.

FRAYER: So this was not a positive holiday gift to women?

HARTMANN: (Laughter) No. I'd characterize it as women getting coal in their stocking this Christmas season.

FRAYER: So what exactly do you think is behind this trend?

HARTMANN: Well, I think it is the consumer durables². We know that just like in other industries...

FRAYER: Durables are - what? - washing machines, cars, big-ticket items.

HARTMANN: ...Furniture - things that last a long time as compared to clothing, cosmetics³, things like that.

FRAYER: And this year we saw a rise in sales of these items?

HARTMANN: We did. We saw hiring anyway. And that's interesting. I think it's a longtime recovery from that very deep and long recession we had in 2007 and 2009. They're finally catching⁴ up.

FRAYER: People finally decided⁵ it was time to invest in a new washing machine after holding off for a couple of years.

HARTMANN: Yeah.

FRAYER: So we're talking about men selling more of these big appliances, women selling clothes and cosmetics. What's the wage disparity there? I imagine that the commission is higher if you sell a car than if you sell a T-shirt.

HARTMANN: Well, definitely. Men make more in retail just the way they make more in almost every industry and every occupation. But, you know, women have tried for years to get these jobs. Sears actually won a case in the '70s saying that it wasn't enough to just show a statistical⁶ disparity, that there were no women in the jobs. That wasn't enough (laughter). And the judge ruled that the plaintiffs hadn't shown intention that Sears didn't...

FRAYER: So this was women suing because they were denied access to those high-commission sales jobs.

HARTMANN: Absolutely.

FRAYER: We've broken this down by gender⁷. But are there also disparities when it comes to race or age in the retail industry?

HARTMANN: Well, there probably are. This data set doesn't have it. And we vowed⁸ that this is so interesting we're going to take a look in the spring when we can get a different data set that will have all of those demographic variables.

FRAYER: Let's talk again then. Yeah.

HARTMANN: I'd love to.

FRAYER: Heidi Hartmann - an economist⁹ and president of the Institute for Women's Policy Research here in Washington. Thanks for coming in.

HARTMANN: Thank you so much.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 durables   

n.持久的，耐用的( durable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Running at 50-year lows below trend. Move from durables to services consumption could be big. 在低于趋势线的50年最低水平下，从耐用品消费到服务消费的转变可能很大。 来自互联网
• The table below shows the consumer durables owned in Britain from 1972 to 1983. 该图表展现的是1972-1983十一年间英国耐久消费品的拥有量。 来自互联网

3 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

4 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

7 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。

8 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

9 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。