2021年经济学人 巴托比职场专栏--女性高管的境况(2)

But there is still a long way to go. Only 27% of American employers offered paid parental¹ leave in 2019. That may be up from 17% in 2016, but still leaves a lot of mothers uncovered. Even where leave is available, many women don’t take full advantage. A survey of female tech-industry employees in 2018 found that 44% of women who had taken maternity² leave had taken off less time than their entitlement because they thought a longer break would damage their careers.

但仍有很长的路要走。2019年，只有27%的美国雇主提供带薪产假，这可能比2016年的17%有所上升，但仍有很多母亲没有涵盖在内。即使公司提供带薪育儿假，很多女性也没有充分休满。2018年，一项针对科技行业女性员工的调查发现，44%休产假女性的休假时间少于应得的时间，因为她们认为更长的休假时间会损害自己的职业生涯。

Working mothers are still overloaded³. Mothers who are employed full-time⁴ spend nearly two-thirds more of their day feeding, bathing and caring for their children (under six) than their employed husbands do. They still struggle with guilt⁵. One executive was on the phone with an important client in her locked office, only for an impatient toddler to bang on the door and repeatedly scream, “You don’t love me.” Unsurprisingly, a study found that chronic⁶ stress levels are 40% higher in women who are employed and bringing up two children than in childless working women. Worse still, female employees routinely toiling⁷ more than 60 hours a week were more than three times as likely to develop heart disease, cancer or diabetes⁸ than those on a conventional 40-hour schedule.

职场母亲仍然负担过重。相较于工作的丈夫，全职工作的母亲每天多花近三分之二的时间来哺乳、洗澡和照顾孩子（6岁以下）。她们仍在内疚中挣扎。一位高管在锁着的办公室里和一位重要客户通电话，结果自己蹒跚学步的孩子不耐烦地使劲敲门，不停地尖叫着：“你根本不爱我。”不出所料，一项研究发现，抚养两个孩子的职业女性的慢性压力水平比没有孩子的职业女性高出40%。更糟糕的是，每周工作时间超过60小时的女性员工患心脏病、癌症或糖尿病的几率是传统的工作40小时的三倍多。

Despite the advances made by female executives, things are even more difficult for the vast majority of working mothers. Many work in smaller businesses, where maternity benefits and flexible hours are less likely to be available. Many are in low-paid jobs, or in sectors⁹ like health care and retailing¹⁰, where it has been impossible to work remotely during the pandemic. The author writes that “nothing is more essential to an employed mother’s professional success than reliable high-quality child care”, and for many women who are not executives, this is a constant headache.

尽管女性高管取得了很大进步，但绝大多数职场母亲面临着更为困难的情况。许多职场女性在小型企业工作，那里不太可能提供产假福利和弹性工作时间。许多职场女性从事低薪工作，或从事医疗保健和零售业等行业，但这些岗位在疫情期间无法提供远程办公机会。作者写道，“对于一个事业有成的职场妈妈来说，没有什么比可靠的高质量育儿服务更重要了”，而对于许多非高管的女性来说，这个问题却经常令她们头痛。

It is good news that many more women have climbed the corporate¹¹ ladder, not just in terms of fairness, but because an economy should take advantage of all its potential talent. There needs to be a lot more progress made in helping¹² the vast majority of women to juggle¹³ their home and work lives, not least by providing affordable¹⁴ child care. There are many more cleaners, cooks and carers than there are chief executives.

好消息是，越来越多的女性事业有成，这不仅仅是因为公平，而是因为一个经济体应该充分利用其所有潜在的人才。在帮助绝大多数女性兼顾家庭和工作生活方面，还需要取得更多进展，尤其是提供负担得起的儿童保育。毕竟女性清洁工、厨师和护理人员比首席执行官要多得多。

1 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

2 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

3 overloaded   

a.超载的，超负荷的

参考例句：

• He's overloaded with responsibilities. 他担负的责任过多。
• She has overloaded her schedule with work, study, and family responsibilities. 她的日程表上排满了工作、学习、家务等，使自己负担过重。

4 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

5 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

6 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

7 toiling   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• The fiery orator contrasted the idle rich with the toiling working classes. 这位激昂的演说家把无所事事的富人同终日辛劳的工人阶级进行了对比。
• She felt like a beetle toiling in the dust. She was filled with repulsion. 她觉得自己像只甲虫在地里挣扎，心中涌满愤恨。

8 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

9 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

12 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

13 juggle   

v.变戏法，纂改，欺骗，同时做；n.玩杂耍，纂改，花招

参考例句：

• If you juggle with your accounts,you'll get into trouble.你要是在帐目上做手脚，你可要遇到麻烦了。
• She had to juggle her job and her children.她得同时兼顾工作和孩子。

14 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。