2021年经济学人 “贪婪的工作”会导致性别收入差距吗？(2)

Even if the distribution of women's occupations matched that of men—"if women were the doctors and men were the nurses"—she calculates that at most a third of the pay gap would disappear.

即使女性的职业分布与男性相同——“如果女的当医生、男的当护士”——她计算出至多只能减少三分之一的工资差距。

The most important cause is that women curtail¹ their careers as a part of a rational household response to labour markets, which generously reward anyone, male or female, who is willing to hold down what Ms Goldin calls a "greedy job".

最重要的原因是，女性缩减了自己的职业生涯，这是家庭对劳动力市场做出的一种理性反应的一部分。这个市场慷慨地奖励任何愿意坚守戈尔丁所说的“贪婪的工作”的人，无论男女。

These are roles, such as those in law, accountancy and finance, that demand long and unpredictable hours.

这些领域，比如法律、会计和金融行业的工作，需要很长且不可预测的工作时间。

Parents need somebody to be on-call at home in case a child falls ill and needs picking up from school, or needs cheering on at a concert or football match.

父母中需要有一个人在家里随叫随到，准备着孩子生病需要从学校接回，或是需要到音乐会或足球比赛上为孩子加油鼓劲。

That is incompatible² with a greedy job, which requires being available for last-minute demands from a client or boss.

这和贪婪地索取精力的工作无法兼容，因为这种工作要随时待命，满足客户或老板的紧急需求。

No one person can do both.

没有一个人能同时做到这两点。

The rational response is for one parent to specialise in lucrative³ greedy work, and for the other—typically the mother—to prioritise the children.

理性的反应是，父母中的一方专门从事有利可图的贪婪工作，而另一位家长——通常是母亲优先照顾孩子。

Ms Goldin writes that "couple equity⁴ has been, and will continue to be, jettisoned⁵ for increased family income."

戈尔丁女士写道，“为了增加家庭收入，夫妻平等被舍弃了，而且以后仍将如此。

A gender⁶ pay gap resulting primarily from the choices of households is a thorny⁷ problem for liberals who prize freedom of choice.

对于崇尚自由选择的自由主义者来说，主要由家庭选择造成的性别收入差距是个棘手的问题。

It is also tricky⁸ territory for economists¹⁰, who often emphasise¹¹ the "revealed preference" of those they study, and the resulting efficiency of market outcomes.

对经济学家来说，这也是一个棘手的领域，他们经常强调研究对象的“显示性偏好”，以及由此带来的市场效率。

True to her membership of the Chicago school of conservative-leaning economists, Ms Goldin does not offer the confident prescriptions¹² for the expansion of government that could have easily followed her compelling diagnosis¹³ of the problem.

戈尔丁的态度符合她所属的倾向保守的芝加哥学派，在对这个问题做出令人信服的诊断后，却并没有自信地指出需要扩大政府干预这一原本已是顺理成章的方案。

Some parts of her book suggest she supports more subsidies¹⁴ for child care, like those proposed by President Joe Biden.

书中部分内容流露出她支持对儿童保育提供更多补贴，就像美国总统拜登主张的那样。

But speaking to The Economist⁹ she was more circumspect¹⁵, pointing out that among Mr Biden's proposals she would prioritise cash transfers to parents (a policy that makes no attempt to change households’ choices).

但在接受本刊采访时，她显得更为谨慎，指出在拜登的主张里，她会优先选择向父母提供现金援助（这项政策无意改变家庭的选择）。

The book is about "what happened and why", she says, rather than solutions.

她说，这本书是关于“发生了什么以及为什么发生”，而不是解决方案。

Another theme of the book, however, is just how much progress for women is a result of technological¹⁶ change and innovation.

不过，这本书的另一个主题是，女性的进步在多大程度上是技术变革和创新的结果。

Could similar forces disrupt greediness?

类似的力量会破坏工作的贪婪程度吗？

For some jobs it is hard to see how; little can stop the self-employed pouring hours into their businesses, say.

对于某些工作来说这难以想象，比如没有什么能阻止个体经营者在自己的事业上投入大量时间。

But firms have an incentive¹⁷ to make jobs less greedy, because hiring and promoting mothers means drawing from a bigger pool of talent.

但是企业有动力让工作变得不那么贪婪，因为雇用母亲、给她们升职意味着从更大的人才库中吸取人才。

Ms Goldin points to pharmacy¹⁸ as an example of an industry that has made the transition.

戈尔丁女士指出，制药业是一个已经实现转型的例子。

Many pharmacists used to be self-employed, with customers expecting personal service.

许多药剂师过去都是个体户，因为顾客希望得到个人化的服务。

But computers and consolidation¹⁹ have led to pharmacists becoming more substitutable for each other, making the job less greedy without a loss of status or pay.

但计算机和业内整合让药剂师工作变得具有可替代性，使这份工作变得不那么贪婪，同时也不会失去地位或工资。

Perhaps remote work or artificial intelligence will do the same for other professions.

也许远程工作或人工智能对其他职业也会起到同样的作用。

Like a radical²⁰, Ms Goldin has identified a structural²¹ feature of the economy: "It isn’t you, it's the system," she reassures²² the reader.

戈尔丁像一个激进分子那样，指出了经济的一个结构性特征。“不是你的问题，而是体制的问题，”她向读者保证。

But she has the liberal's hesitancy about disrupting a system that is built on choice.

但她和自由主义者一样，对于颠覆一个建立在选择之上的体制仍犹豫不决。

1 curtail   

vt.截短，缩短；削减

参考例句：

• The government hopes to curtail public spending.政府希望缩减公共事业开支。
• The minister had to curtail his visit.部长不得不缩短访问日期。

2 incompatible   

adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的

参考例句：

• His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。
• Speed and safety are not necessarily incompatible.速度和安全未必不相容。

3 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

4 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

5 jettisoned   

v.抛弃，丢弃( jettison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was jettisoned as team coach after the defeat. 他因这次失败被撤销了运动队教练职务。
• They jettisoned big boxes to make the bus lighter. 他们抛弃公共汽车上的货物，使车减轻重量。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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。

7 thorny   

adj.多刺的，棘手的

参考例句：

• The young captain is pondering over a thorny problem.年轻的上尉正在思考一个棘手的问题。
• The boys argued over the thorny points in the lesson.孩子们辩论功课中的难点。

8 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

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。

10 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 emphasise   

vt.加强...的语气，强调，着重

参考例句：

• What special feature do you think I should emphasise? 你认为我该强调什么呢？
• The exercises heavily emphasise the required readings.练习非常强调必须的阅读。

12 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

13 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

14 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 circumspect   

adj.慎重的，谨慎的

参考例句：

• She is very circumspect when dealing with strangers.她与陌生人打交道时十分谨慎。
• He was very circumspect in his financial affairs.他对于自己的财务十分细心。

16 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

17 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

18 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

19 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

20 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

21 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

22 reassures   

v.消除恐惧或疑虑，恢复信心( reassure的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A significant benefit of Undo is purely psychological: It reassures users. 撤销的一个很大好处纯粹是心理上的，它让用户宽心。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Direct eye contact reassures the person that you are confident and honest. 直接的目光接触让人相信你的自信和诚实。 来自口语例句