经济学人精读 | 消除性别歧视

原标题:经济学人精读 | 消除性别歧视

雅思哥经济学人精读

原 文 译 文

Bartleby A small step for women

巴托比专栏:女性的一小步

Progress in the boardroom is only a start

董事会的进步只是一个开始

The glass ceiling in the corporate world is not broken, but it is starting to crack. Women are getting on to corporate boards at greater speed, and in greater numbers. Research by LinkedIn, a professional networking site, shows that across five countries (America, Germany, India, Italy and Norway) women it lists as directors reached the position faster than their male counterpartsdid. In America, for example, women got there 9.8 years after leaving university and men after 10.9 years.

企业界的玻璃天花板没有破碎,但就要开始破裂了。女性进入公司董事会的速度越来越快,人数也越来越多。职业网站LinkedIn研究表明在5个国家中(美国、德国、印度、意大利和挪威),女性坐上董事位子的速度比男性同事更快。例如,在美国,女性在大学毕业后需要9.8年爬上董事的位子,而男性则需要10.9年。

This suggests that younger women are making good progress in the boardroom. Overall, however, females are still lagging behindthe males. The proportion of people in leadership roles (director-level and above) that is female in the five countries varies from 17% in India to 35% in America.

这表明在董事会中,年轻女性正在取得很大的进步。但总体来看,女性仍落后于男性。在以上五个国家中,领导层女性(董事及以上)人数比例从印度的17%到美国的35%各不相同。

Britain has seen a clear advance; a campaign there called the 30% club has managed to increase the share of female directors of ftse100 companies from 12.5% in 2010 to 30.6%. But as the world marks International Women’s Day on March 8th, it is clear that the glass ceiling has notshattered.

英国已经有了明显的进步;英国‘30%俱乐’运动希望设法将英国富时100公司中女性董事的占比从2010年的12.5%增长至30.6%。但是在3月8日国际妇女节之日,很明显企业界的玻璃天花板还没有碎。

Some firms may be paying only lip service to the idea of female leadership. A paper in the Academy of Management Journal highlightsthe phenomenon of tokenism”, a statistical bunching of American companies with exactly two female directors. The authors suggest this is directly related to the average number of female directors on s&p1500 boards in the period studied (2004-13), which was 1.92. By opting for two women, businesses could claim they had “above average” female representation.

一些公司不过是在口头上应承女性领导力这一想法。《管理学会杂志》中的一篇论文强调了“象征主义”现象,据统计很多美国公司中只有两名女性董事。其作者暗示这和研究时段(2014-13)中标准普尔1500董事会的女性董事平均人数(1.92)有着直接关系。通过选择两名女性入职,公司可以宣称自己公司女性代表人数“高于平均”。

In any case, a rise in the number of female directors is a narrow measure of female economic success. Having women at the top of organizations may inspire others to emulatethem, and board members may be able push through more female-friendly policies lower down in their organizations. But the vast majority of women would never expect to become directors. What they value is an opportunity to get a well-paid job and to be free from discriminationwhile doing it.

无论如何,女性董事人数的增加只是衡量女性经济成功的一种狭窄尺度。公司高层中有女性成员或许可以激励其他人效仿她们,并且可能会更有利于董事会在企业中推行更有利于女性的政策。但是大部分女性从未想过成为董事。她们看重的是得到高薪工作的机会以及在工作中不受歧视。

In this respect the news is less encouraging. Across the OECDthe gender pay gap of full-time employees averages 13.5% and varies widely, from 3.4% in Luxembourg to 36.7% in South Korea. It can be hard to adjust for all the many factors, such as skill levels, that might explain this gap. Nevertheless, the OECDfound last year that full-time employed women with a college degree earned, on average, 26% less than their male equivalents.

在这方面,新闻报道就没那么鼓舞人心。经济合作与发展组织(OECD)中,全职员工的性别收入差距平均为13.5%且差异很大,从卢森堡的3.4%到韩国的36.7%各不相等。由于众多原因,这一现象很难改变,如技能水平或许能解释这一差距。然而,OECD发现,去年拥有大学学历的全职女性员工的平均工资比同等学历的男性少26%。

A World Bank survey of 187 economies, published last month, found that women had, on average, three-quarters of the legal and employment rights of men. The survey asked questions such as whether women were free to travel and open a business, if they had property rights and if they were protected from sexualharassment.In the Middle East and north Africa, women were found on this basis to have less than half the rights of men (Saudi Arabia was ranked lowest of all the countries surveyed). Only in six countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden) did the law and society grant women equal rights.

上个月,世界银行对187个经济体做了一项调查,该调查发现女性的平均法定权力和就业权只有男性的3/4。该调查中涉及的问题有,女性是否能自由旅行和创业,是否有财产权以及是否能免于性骚扰。在中东和北非,女性在这方面的权力不到男性的一半(沙特阿拉伯在所有被调查国家中排名最低)。仅有6个国家(比利时、丹麦、法国、拉脱维亚、卢森堡和瑞典)赋予了女性同等的法律和社会权力。

Problems are deep-rooted. Research by Lisa Cameron of the University of Melbourne with the IZA, a Germanthinktank, found that in many developing economies more than half of all nonagricultural female workers relied on informal employment, a higher share than men. Not only do these women get paid less as a result, they also lack access to state social programs, such as unemployment benefit and pensions, which are often designed with formal employment status in mind.

这些问题是根深蒂固的。墨尔本大学的丽莎·卡梅隆与德国智囊团IZA合作进行的研究发现,在很多发展中国家,超过一半的非农业女性都从事着非正规职业,这一比例高于男性。因此,这些女性不仅挣得少,她们还不能参与国家社会项目,如失业津贴和养老金,这些通常是为正式用工状况所制定的。

The result is that poorly paid women have few resources tofall back on.In addition, social programs are much less generous in developing economies than they are in the rich world, absorbing 17.7% of GDPin Europe and 10.7% in America, but only 9.7% in Latin America and just 1.4% in South-East Asia. Without the cushion of a benefit system, working women in the developing world probably must endure more bullying and harassment at work, for fear of losing their jobs.

结果,这些薪水微薄的女性能依赖的资源非常少。此外,发展中国家的社会项目没有发达国家的那么多,欧洲社会项目占GDP的17.7%,美国是10.7%,但在拉丁美洲仅为9.7%,在东南亚只有1.4%。没了福利体系的保护,发展中国家的职业女性或许必须在工作中忍受更多欺凌和骚扰,因为她们害怕丢了工作。

So there is certainly cause to celebrate women making small steps forward in the boardroom. But bigger leaps are still needed elsewhere.

所以绝对有理由庆祝女性在董事会中取得的小小进步。但是世界各地仍需要更大的进步。董事会议室中的进步仅仅是一个开始。

精 读 解 析

篇章结构:

P1-P2:虽然女性进入董事会的速度和人数都在增加,但是女性仍然处于弱势地位

P3-P9:在实现女性公平上虽有进步,但是歧视仍然存在的表现

P10:女性在董事会的成功只是消除性别歧视的一小步。

重点词汇:

Counterpart /kaʊntəpɑːt/n. 与对方地位相当的人, 与另一方作用相当的物

【例句】

Your right ear is the counterpart of your left ear.

你的右耳朵是你左耳朵的相对物。

Lag behind落后;后进

【例句】

We should also help those lagging behind.

我们还应当帮助后进的同志。

Shatter /ʃætə/v. 打碎;破掉;使散开;粉碎;破坏n. 碎片;乱七八糟的状态

【例句】

Everyone was shattered by the news.

听到这个消息,大家都十分震惊。

The crisis will shatter their confidence.

危机会动摇他们的信心。

Highlight /haɪlaɪt/vt. 强调, 突出, 使显著 n. 最精彩的部分, 最重要的事情

【例句】

Ill show you the highlights of the event.

我将给你展示这个事件的最精彩的部分。

The President highlights the importance of his visit to China.

总统强调访问中国的重要性。

Tokenism 象征主义;装门面;表面文章

【例句】

I never embraced tokenism with more gusto.

我说话从不好做表面文章。

Despite pronouncements about being committed to ending apartheid, many U. S. companies engage merely in tokenism.

许多美国公司尽管公开表示愿意终止种族隔离政策,但只是装点门面而已。

Bunch /bʌn(t)ʃ/n. 串;群;突出物v. 使成一串;使打褶

【例句】

This curtain bunches up.

这块窗帘布皱起来了。

The bunch of keys came down with a clash.

这串钥匙当的一声掉在地上。

Discrimination /dɪ,skrɪmɪneɪʃ(ə)n/n. 歧视;辨别; 辨别力, 识别力

【同根】

Discriminate v. 歧视;分别, 辨别, 区分

Discriminative adj. 有判别力

【短语】

gender discrimination性别歧视

racial discrimination种族歧视

【例句】

Discrimination against women is not allowed.

歧视妇女是不能允许的。

Racial discrimination was abhorrent to us all.

我们大家对种族歧视都深恶痛绝。

Emulate /emjʊleɪt/vt. 与…竞争, 努力赶上

【同根】

Emulation n. 仿效;竞赛;努力追上并超越;竞争

Emulative adj. 竞争性的;好胜的;有竞争心的

【例句】

Your actions are a blueprint for others to emulate.

你们的行为是值得他人学习的榜样。

Equivalent/ɪkwɪv(ə)l(ə)nt/adj. 相等的, 相当的

【同根】

Equivalence n. (力量等的)均等;相等;相当

【短语】

be equivalent to相等[当]于…,等(同)于,与… 等效

【例句】

He changed his pounds for the equivalent amount of dollars.

他把英磅换成了等值的美元。

Harassment/həræsmənt/n. 骚扰, 扰乱

【同根】

Harass vt. 使烦恼;使困扰;反复袭击

【例句】

She often got telephone harassment at night these days.

这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。

Thinktankn. 智囊团;智库

【例句】

The caretaker prime minister has accepted a job as deputy director of the OECD, the Paris-based thinktank, and hopes to take up the post in the new year.

这位看守内阁首相已经获任成为经济合作与发展组织的副秘书长,他希望可以在明年到这个总部在巴黎的智库上任。

Fall back on 求助于, 转而依靠;退回去

【例句】

I always fall back on what inspires me.

我总是回头去审视启发我灵感的东西。

If the first plan fails, we can fall back on the second.

如果第一个计划失败了,我们还可以依靠第二个。

重点句子:

Research by LinkedIn, a professional networking site, shows that across five countries (America, Germany, India, Italy and Norway) women it lists as directors reached the position faster than their male counterparts did.

句子结构:

解析:本句中,句子的主干是:Research by LinkedIn shows that+宾语从句。中间的a professional networking site是一个插入语,解释说明LinkedIn具体是干什么的.

坚持就会有收获!返回搜狐,查看更多

责任编辑:

(0)
上一篇 2023年1月18日 下午5:46
下一篇 2023年1月18日 下午6:00

相关推荐

wx