“贪婪的工作”会导致性别收入差距吗？(上)

Finance and Economics

财经版块

Free exchange

自由交换

The "greedy jobs" gap

“贪婪的工作”导致的差距

Mothers' careers suffer when parents maximise their combined income, says a new book.

一本新书称，当父母让合并收入最大化时，母亲的事业受损。

Radical and liberal feminists, as defined by philosophers, differ on the extent to which women's freely made choices matter.

按照哲学家的定义，激进派和自由派的女权主义者在有关女性自由选择的重要程度上有所差异。

A liberal feminist desires maximum autonomy for women, demanding equal rights and an end to sex discrimination.

自由派女权主义者希望女性享有最大程度的自主权，要求权利平等，终结性别歧视。

A radical feminist sees in society patriarchal forces that are bigger than any one person, and which oppress women in part by influencing their choices.

激进派女权主义者认为，社会中父权的力量最大，并在某种程度上通过影响女性的选择来压迫女性。

Economic differences between the sexes—such as the gender pay gap—are always a sign of injustice.

两性之间的经济差距，比如性别收入差距是非常不公平的表现。

A new book by Claudia Goldin of Harvard University, an expert on women and work, is a study both of American women's choices and of the context in which they are made.

哈佛大学克劳迪娅·戈尔丁是女性与工作方面的专家，她的新书既研究了美国女性的选择，也研究了她们做出选择的背景。

"Career and Family: Women's Century-Long Journey Toward Equity" traces the history of work and family for college-educated women, and diagnoses what still troubles their careers today.

《职业与家庭：女性迈向平等的世纪历程》追溯了受过大学教育的女性的工作史和家庭史，并分析了至今仍困扰她们职业生涯的因素。

A caricature of history might involve a journey from home to the workplace.

对历史的速写可能少不了从家庭走向职场的历程。

In fact, the first generation Ms Goldin studies, born in 1878-97, contained plenty of working women.

实际上，戈尔丁研究的第一代女性——出生于1878年至1897年——包含大量职业女性。

But a successful career typically required forgoing children and sometimes marriage.

但成功的职业生涯通常需要放弃生育，有时还需要放弃婚姻。

Among those listed in "Notable American Women", a collection of biographies, no more than three in ten had a child, she writes.

她写道，在传记集《美国知名女性传》中，有孩子的女性不超过三成。

The choice women faced was "family or career".

女性面临的选择是“家庭还是事业”。

By the third generation, those born between 1924 and 1943, college-educated women had a more uniform life experience: "family then job".

到了出生于1924到1943年的第三代，受过大学教育的女性有了更统一的生活经历：“先成家，再立业”。

The typical woman worked after graduation, but soon married, had children and dropped out of the workforce.

通常女性在毕业后工作，但很快就结婚、生子并退出了职场。

She returned once her children were in school, and the gradual removal of formal discriminatory barriers opened up opportunities for her.

孩子们上学后，她又回归工作，那个年代职场上的歧视性障碍逐渐消除，给她们提供了机会。

But her prolonged absence from work meant she did not have the skills and experience necessary to thrive in the workplace.

但太久不工作意味着她们不具备在职场上顺利发展所必需的技能和经验。

It is only by the fifth group, born after 1958, that many women aspired to achieve "career and family".

直到1958年以后出生的第五代女性出现，许多女性才渴望拥有“事业和家庭”。

The shift was aided by the contraceptive pill, which helped women delay marriage; improved fertility treatments, which helped them delay child-bearing; and more liberal social norms.

这一转变得益于避孕药，受孕治疗的改进和更开明的社会规范；避孕药帮助女性推迟了结婚年龄，受孕治疗的改进帮助她们推迟了生育年龄。

Yet, despite the staggering extent of the change Ms Goldin documents, a clear gender gap still exists for these women, most notably with respect to pay.

然而，尽管戈尔丁女士记录的这些变化很惊人，但这些女性仍然要面对明显的性别差距，尤其是在薪酬方面。

American women earn on average 20% less per hour worked.

美国女性平均时薪比男性低20%。

For college graduates, the gap is larger, at 26%.

对于大学毕业生来说，这一差距更大，为26%。

It is at this point that the book becomes provocative.

正是在这一点上，这本书变得有争议性。

Drawing on reams of research Ms Goldin argues that most women no longer suffer much labour-market discrimination in the sense of unequal pay for equal performance, as is often claimed by the left.

戈尔丁参考了大量的研究，认为大多数女性已经不再像左派经常声称的那样，在劳动市场上受到很多同工不同酬的歧视。

Nor is the gender pay gap driven primarily by women's choice of occupation, an explanation sometimes favoured by the right.

性别收入差距也并非像右派有时爱拿来辩解的那样，主要由女性的职业选择造成。