考博英語(yǔ)外刊丨The gender pay gap: transparency on its own

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The gender pay gap: transparency on its own isn’t enough

題材：科普類

出處：The Guardian《衛(wèi)報(bào)》

字?jǐn)?shù)：561 words

[1] The difference between men’s and women’s median hourly pay in the UK has edged up since companies with 250 employees or more were forced to publish this information six years ago. From 11.9% in 2017-18, the gap rose to 12.2% last year and stayed the same this year, according to analysis by the Financial Times. The proportion of employers paying men more than women has also risen, and now stands at 79.5%. This is not the result that those who pushed for compulsory reporting hoped for. The idea was that transparency would bring change, through a combination of pressure from better-informed female workers and the embarrassment of bosses.

【自六年前擁有250名或250名以上員工的公司被迫公布這一信息以來(lái)，英國(guó)男性和女性的時(shí)薪中間值之間的差距有所上升。根據(jù)英國(guó)《金融時(shí)報(bào)》的分析，這一差距從2017-2018年的11.9%上升到去年的12.2%，今年保持不變。雇主向男性支付的薪酬高于女性的比例也有所上升，目前為79.5%。這不是那些推動(dòng)強(qiáng)制報(bào)告的人所希望的結(jié)果。他們的想法是，透明度將帶來(lái)變化，通過(guò)更明智的女性員工施加的壓力和老板的尷尬共同作用來(lái)實(shí)現(xiàn)這一變化。】

[2] The headline figures conceal a huge amount of variation. Education, finance and construction are the sectors with the biggest gaps – all over 22%. Of the three, only construction has made significant progress towards shrinking it in the period since compulsory reporting was brought in. Well-known businesses with huge gaps include Lloyds, with 34.8%, and prestigious law firms. The figures are a reason for anger, as well as concern, for anyone who believes that men and women should be financially equal. But the most painful effects will be felt at the bottom of the income distribution. Women, particularly black and minority ethnic women, pensioners and lone parents are consistently over-represented among the poorest households. Worryingly, research suggests that where the pay gap has shrunk, this is due to the falling wage levels of low-paid men, as well as the beneficial impact of the minimum wage.

【標(biāo)題數(shù)字掩蓋了巨大的差異。教育、金融和建筑業(yè)是差距最大的行業(yè)，超過(guò)22%。在這三個(gè)行業(yè)中，只有建筑業(yè)在被迫發(fā)布報(bào)告后的一段時(shí)間內(nèi)在縮小差距方面取得了重大進(jìn)展。有巨大差距的知名企業(yè)包括勞埃德銀行（34.8%）和著名的律師事務(wù)所。對(duì)于那些認(rèn)為男女在經(jīng)濟(jì)上應(yīng)該平等的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這些數(shù)字是憤怒和擔(dān)憂的原因。但是處于收入分配的底層的人群是最痛苦的。在這些最貧窮的家庭中，婦女，特別是黑人和少數(shù)民族婦女、養(yǎng)老金領(lǐng)取者以及獨(dú)立養(yǎng)育孩子的單親父母的比例一直過(guò)高。令人擔(dān)憂的是，研究表明，在工資差距縮小的地方，是低薪男性工資水平的下降，以及最低工資在發(fā)揮著有利影響?！?/p>

[3] How they will address the stubborn gap in pay levels is a question which all politicians, but above all members of the government with relevant briefs, should be called on to answer. Several current trends point to the likelihood of the situation becoming worse rather than better, with a growing number of women leaving the workforce to become unpaid carers. Already, the weaker finances of women with children, known as the “motherhood penalty”, are an important factor in explaining the disparity between male and female earnings, which widens with age. The government’s recent commitment to expand childcare provision is welcome. But nurseries remain seriously underfunded, and the number of childminders has declined by 9% in a year.

【他們將如何解決薪酬水平中難以去除的差距，這是一個(gè)所有政治家，尤其是所有有相關(guān)簡(jiǎn)報(bào)的政府成員都應(yīng)該回答的問(wèn)題。目前的一些趨勢(shì)表明，情況可能會(huì)變得更糟，而不是更好，越來(lái)越多的女性離開(kāi)勞動(dòng)力隊(duì)伍，成為無(wú)償護(hù)理人員。有孩子的婦女的財(cái)務(wù)狀況較差，即所謂的“母性懲罰”，作為解釋男女收入差距問(wèn)題的一個(gè)重要因素，這種差距隨著年齡的增長(zhǎng)而擴(kuò)大。政府最近承諾擴(kuò)大兒童保育服務(wù)，這是值得歡迎的。但托兒所的資金仍然嚴(yán)重不足，保育員的數(shù)量在一年內(nèi)下降了9%?！?/p>

[4] The wealth gap between men and women also requires scrutiny, as property and other assets become an increasingly important source of financial security, particularly in old age. Research for the 2020 Commission on a Gender-Equal Economy found that women in their early 60s with private pensions typically have a pot worth just one-fifth as much as men of the same age. State pension income inequality has reduced, partly due to enrolment, but low-income divorced or separated women remain a financially vulnerable group.

【男女之間的貧富差距也需要仔細(xì)審查，因?yàn)樨?cái)產(chǎn)和其他資產(chǎn)越來(lái)越成為經(jīng)濟(jì)保障的重要來(lái)源，尤其是對(duì)老年人來(lái)說(shuō)。2020年，性別平等經(jīng)濟(jì)委員會(huì)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，60歲出頭擁有私人養(yǎng)老金的女性，她們的養(yǎng)老金通常只有同齡男性的五分之一。雖然國(guó)家養(yǎng)老金收入不平等現(xiàn)象有所減少，部分原因是系統(tǒng)的自動(dòng)登記，但低收入與伴侶離婚或是分居的婦女仍然是經(jīng)濟(jì)弱勢(shì)群體?！?/p>

[5] Improved financial education is one part of the solution to this interconnected series of problems. A much stronger emphasis by policymakers on improving social infrastructure, by investing in the various care systems, is another. Ethnicity pay gaps also require closer monitoring (currently, reporting is voluntary although Labour and the women and equalities committee have called for this to change).

【改善金融教育是解決這一系列相互關(guān)聯(lián)問(wèn)題的一個(gè)舉措。另一方面，政策制定者更加強(qiáng)調(diào)通過(guò)投資各種護(hù)理系統(tǒng)來(lái)改善社會(huì)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施。種族薪酬差距也需要更密切的監(jiān)測(cè)（目前，報(bào)告是自愿提交的，盡管勞動(dòng)委員會(huì)和婦女與平等委員會(huì)呼吁改變這種情況）?！?/p>

[6] But as the latest figures show, an obligation to report on pay gaps does not automatically make them shrink. What the information does is to let employees know where they stand, and to provide an empirical basis for the argument that women’s position in society is not getting any better.

【但正如最新數(shù)據(jù)所示，報(bào)告薪酬差距的義務(wù)并不會(huì)自動(dòng)使薪酬差距縮小。這些信息的作用是讓員工知道自己的立場(chǎng)，并為女性在社會(huì)中的地位沒(méi)有得到任何改善的論點(diǎn)提供經(jīng)驗(yàn)基礎(chǔ)。