美多数女性认为自己能兼顾工作和生活

Most young women believe they will achieve a balance between a rewarding career and a fulfilling personal life, despite the economic upheaval and a legacy of corporate culture that favors men, a survey shows.

The online survey of full-time working women between the ages of 22 and 35 years old revealed that they wanted a balance between their personal and professional lives and a job where they could make a difference.

Medical benefits were a crucial part of how they defined professional success, according to the survey commissioned by global management consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture, some 63 percent cited medical benefits as crucial to a professional success.

Accenture surveyed the 1,000 women because "we are always interested in attracting and retaining the best and the brightest," explained LaMae Allen deJongh, noting that globally the company employed 60,000 women.

Women are soon expected to make up half the U.S. workforce and the so-called millennials, those born after 1980, are now one-third of the working population.

DeJongh, managing director of US human capital and diversity at the company, said the survey showed that "one-size is not going to fit all" when it comes to retaining women. Half of the respondents said flexible hours were important to them.

Nearly all, 94 percent, believed they could achieve a balance between a satisfying professional career and a gratifying personal life.

When asked to rank barriers to their careers, 12 percent cited marriage, 19 percent said maternity policies and 30 percent named pay scales.

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that the median salary for women was 80 percent of men's. When comparing the median weekly earning of those aged 16 to 34, young women earned 91 percent of what young men did.

Almost 60 percent of the women surveyed reported being negatively impacted by the current economic downturn. And one-third were more concerned with keeping their jobs than achieving the work-personal life balance.

The U.S. unemployment rate remains at 10 percent, and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office does not expect it to dip below 8 percent before 2012.

一项调查显示，尽管经济形势动荡，企业文化更青睐男性，美国大多数年轻女性认为她们能在事业发展和个人生活两者之间取得平衡。

这项针对年龄在22岁到35岁之间的全职女性的在线调查显示，女性希望在个人生活和职业发展两者间取得平衡，并希望拥有一份能够发挥自身价值的工作。

这项受埃森哲全球管理咨询及外包公司委托开展的调查表明，医疗福利是女性定义职业成功的重要标准，约63%的人称医疗福利对于职业成功至关重要。

埃森哲公司美国人力资本和多样化部门经理拉美伊．艾伦．德容解释说，该公司共对1000名女性进行了调查，因为“我们一直很注重吸引和留住最优秀和最聪慧的女性员工”。他称埃森哲公司在全球共雇佣了6万名女性。

女性很快将占据美国劳动力的一半，出生于上世纪80年代后的“千禧”代目前占劳动力人口总数的三分之一。

德容说，该调查显示，在留住女员工方面，没有一个万全之策。一半的受访者称，灵活的工作时间对于她们很重要。

几乎所有的受访者（94%）认为她们可以在令人满意的职业发展和快乐的个人生活二者间取得平衡。

在被问及职业发展的障碍时，12%的人认为是婚姻，19%的人认为是生育政策，30%的人认为是薪酬等级。

美国劳工部报告说，女性的平均薪酬为男性的80%。如果将年龄在16岁到34岁之间的男女员工的周平均收入做个比较，年轻女性的收入为年轻男性的91%。

近60%的受访女性报告称她们受到当前经济衰退的影响。三分之一的女性更关心的是保住她们现在的饭碗，无暇考虑工作和生活平衡的问题。

目前美国的失业率仍高居10%，据中立机构国会预算办公室预计，失业率在2012年之前无望降到8%以下。

Vocabulary:

upheaval: a big change that causes a lot of confusion, worry and problems 剧变；激变；动乱；动荡

outsourcing: arranging for somebody outside a company to do work or provide goods for that company 交外办理；外购

millennial: a person from the generation which grew up in the 90s and 2000s 千禧年一代

dip: to go downwards or to a lower level; to make something do this （使）下降，下沉