时代周刊:美国正在辜负母亲这一群体(2)

Never has this been clearer than during the pandemic.

从未有时候像此次的疫情一样将这一问题暴露得如此彻底。

Although in 2017, 41% of mothers were the sole or primary breadwinner for their family

尽管2017年时，有41%的母亲所在的家庭全靠她一人或主要靠她养家，

and an additional 23.2% brought home at least a quarter of their total household earnings¹,

还有23.2%的母亲贡献了至少四分之一的家庭收入，

the loss of most outside support—from school, from camp, from day care—has meant that mothers are the ones picking up the slack.

失去外部——学校、营地和日托中心等——的大部分支持就意味着母亲们成了收拾残局的人。

A recent study of about 60,000 U.S. households published in the academic journal Gender², Work & Organization

近日发表在学术期刊《性别、工作和组织》上的一项针对大约6万个美国家庭的研究显示，

showed that in heterosexual couples where both partners were employed,

伴侣双方都有工作的异性伴侣中，

mothers "have reduced their work hours four to five times more than fathers."

母亲一方“工作时间减少的量是父亲一方的四到五倍”。

There’s no reason to believe this will get better—and plenty of reasons to suspect it will get worse—

没有理由能让我们相信这一问题会得到改善——怀疑这一问题还会变得更糟的理由倒是有很多——

as school districts announce back-to-school plans that are all remote or a hybrid³ of online and in person.

因为学区宣布的复课计划要么都是远程的，或者就是线上线下结合的。

The drive to reopen the economy without adequate childcare will force women from the workforce⁴ in record numbers.

缺乏足够的照顾儿童措施就重启经济的欲望会迫使大批女性退出劳动力大军。

Society will call it a choice, when in reality, it’s a failure of the system.

社会会说这是一种选择，实际上则是制度的一大败笔。

This is not a new problem, nor are the solutions a mystery.

问题不是新问题，解决问题的办法也不是没想出来。

We’ve just chosen until now not to listen.

只不过，时至今日，我们还在选择视而不见。

It’s time to abolish our conception of what it means to be a mother in America and rebuild it on a policy level.

是时候废除美国当前对母亲的认知，重新从政策层面构建这一概念了。

First, we need to normalize women receiving help with childcare.

首先，我们要用平常心来看待女性接受育儿帮助一事。

We are the only industrialized nation without guaranteed paid parental⁵ leave,

我们是唯一一个没有固定带薪产假的工业化国家，

and for half of Americans, full-time⁶ day care costs more than in-state college tuition.

而且，就一半的美国人的生活水平而言，全日制托儿服务的费用比所在州的大学学费还要昂贵。

Additionally, other industrialized nations offer income supplements to help raise children or subsidies⁷ for childcare costs.

不仅如此，其他工业化国家还提供了帮助抚养孩子的收入补贴，或补贴育儿费。

We do not.

我们则没有。

This disregard has continued even in these unprecedented⁸ times.

即便是在（新冠疫情）这个史无前例的时期，这一漠视也没有停止。

As economist⁹ Betsey Stevenson pointed¹⁰ out to Politico,

正如经济学家贝齐·史蒂文森对Politico（网站）指出的那样，

"We gave less money to the entire childcare sector¹¹ than we gave to one single airline, Delta¹²."

“我们给整个育儿部门的钱都没有给达美航空这一家航空公司的的钱多。”

The U.S. also ranks 26th in the world for access to preschool for 4-year-olds, and 24th for 3-year-olds.

就4岁和3岁儿童接受学前教育的机会而言，美国的世界排名也已经排到了26位和24位。

But access to early childhood education rarely becomes a top policy priority.

然而，接受幼儿教育的机会问题从来都没能引起政策方面的特别重视。

The implication is clear: Mom will take care of it.

言下之意很清楚：妈妈们自己会处理好这个问题的。

1 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

2 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。

3 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

4 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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》

8 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

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 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

11 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

12 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。