女性在政界仍落后于男性

 Women still lag far behind men in top political and decision-making roles, a waste of talent given that their access to education and healthcare is nearly equal, the World Economic Forum¹ said on Wednesday.

In its 2008 Global Gender² Gap report, the think tank ranked Norway, Finland and Sweden as the countries with the greatest equality between the sexes, while Saudi Arabia, Chad and Yemen were the least equal.

Averaging 130 national scores, the report found that girls and women have reached near-parity³ with their male peers in educational attainment⁴, health and survival, in both rich and poor countries.

But economically, in terms of workforce⁵ participation⁶ and earning opportunities, and politically, in terms of empowerment, the gap between the sexes remains⁷ large.

"The world's women are nearly as educated and as healthy as men, but are nowhere to be found in terms of decision-making," said Saadia Zahidi of the World Economic Forum, a Swiss-based think tank best known for its Davos summit held in January.

"Given that women have almost closed the gap with men on health and education, it is a waste of their talents if they are not catching⁸ up in economics and politics," she said.

The report uses United Nations and other data to weigh how evenly each country shares its resources and opportunities between men and women.

Outside the Nordic region, which traditionally scores well on measures of gender parity, New Zealand placed fifth, in part because of its female political empowerment including the tenure⁹ of Helen Clark as prime minister.

The Philippines, whose president is a woman, followed in sixth place, and Ireland, the Netherlands, and Latvia placed eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.

The United States ranked 27th, ahead of its neighbor Canada for the first time since the gender gap report was launched three years ago. Canada fell 13 spots to 31st place.

Trinidad, Argentina and Cuba were rated highest among Latin American and Caribbean countries, and Lesotho was the top-rated African state in gender parity.

世界经济论坛于本周三称，虽然女性在受教育和医疗方面已与男性接近平等，但女性在高层政治和决策领域仍落后于男性，这对于她们的才能是一种浪费。

在该论坛发布的“2008全球性别差异报告”中，挪威、芬兰和瑞典被评为性别平等度最高的国家，而沙特、乍得和也门是则性别差异最显著的国家。

该报告通过计算130个国家的平均得分发现，无论在发达国家还是贫困国家，如今女性在受教育、医疗和生存方面所享受的权利都与男性基本相当。

但从就业和工作机遇等经济维度和掌握要职等政治维度两方面衡量，性别差异仍然很大。

世界经济论坛的萨迪亚?扎西迪说：“如今全世界女性的受教育和健康水平已不亚于男性，但在高层决策领域女性仍然很少。”世界经济论坛总部位于瑞士，每年1月份的“达沃斯论坛”就是由该智囊机构举办。

她说：“现在女性在健康和受教育方面的水平已接近于男性，但如果女性在经济和政治领域无法与男性齐平，那是对她们才能的浪费。”

该报告主要根据联合国及其它一些数据评估各国在资源和机会分配方面的性别差异。

北欧地区在性别平等度方面的得分向来较高，新西兰名列第五，这一定程度上是因为海伦?克兰克担任该国总理及其他一些女性任政界要职。

女性任总统的菲律宾位居第六；爱尔兰、荷兰和拉脱维亚分别位居第八、第九和第十位。

美国名列第27位，这是该报告发布三年来美国首次超过其邻国加拿大。加拿大下跌13个榜位，跌至第31位。

特立尼达、阿根廷和古巴位居拉美和加勒比海地区前列，莱索托是非洲性别差异最小的国家。

1 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

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 parity   

n.平价，等价，比价，对等

参考例句：

• The two currencies have now reached parity.这两种货币现已达到同等价值。
• Women have yet to achieve wage or occupational parity in many fields.女性在很多领域还没能争取到薪金、职位方面的平等。

4 attainment   

n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣

参考例句：

• We congratulated her upon her attainment to so great an age.我们祝贺她高寿。
• The attainment of the success is not easy.成功的取得并不容易。

5 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。

6 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

9 tenure   

n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期

参考例句：

• He remained popular throughout his tenure of the office of mayor.他在担任市长的整个任期内都深得民心。
• Land tenure is a leading political issue in many parts of the world.土地的保有权在世界很多地区是主要的政治问题。