时代周刊:美国正在辜负母亲这一群体(4)（在线收听）

"First, there is a wage penalty for motherhood of 4% per child

“首先，妈妈们平均每生一个孩子，就要遭受4%的工资损失，

that cannot be explained by human capital, family structure, family-friendly job characteristics,

而且是用人力资本、家庭结构、对家庭友好的工作的特征，

or differences among women that are stable over time," she wrote.

或是女性之间一直都稳定存在的那些差异都无法解释的损失，”她写道。

"Second, this motherhood penalty is larger among low-wage workers while the top 10% of female workers incur no motherhood wage penalty."

“其次，母亲这一身份带来的工资损失在低工资人群中更为明显，处于女性职场顶端的10%的女性则完全不会面临这一损失。”

Part of the disparity between fathers and mothers may be due to employer discrimination, Budig explained,

父母亲职场待遇的这种差异部分来源于用人单位的歧视，布迪格解释说，

citing research suggesting that companies view dads as more competent and worthy of promotion than moms.

他为此援引的研究表明，企业通常认为，父亲比母亲更有能力，更值得提拔。

"Ideas of what make a ‘good mother,’ a ‘good father,’ and an ‘ideal worker’ matter," she writes.

“人们对‘好妈妈’、‘好爸爸’和‘好员工’的定义也很重要，”她写道。

"If mothers are supposed to focus on caring for children over career ambitions,

“如果社会认为妈妈们就应当把主要精力放在照顾孩子而不是职业抱负上面的话，

they will be suspect on the job and even criticized if viewed as overly focusing on work."

要是其他人觉得她们过于专注于工作，她们在工作中就会受到怀疑，受到批评。”

But modern motherhood is also relentless.

现代社会的妈妈们面临的处境依旧很残酷，很无情。

Not only do mothers in America today continue to spend more time on both childcare and household chores than fathers do,

当今美国的妈妈们不仅在照顾孩子，料理家务方面花的时间依旧都比爸爸们多，

despite men’s increased involvement at home,

尽管男性对家庭的投入已经有所提升，

they also spend more time with their children than they did in the 1970s,

而且，和上个世纪七十年代，也就是庞贝克写妈妈们即便是做着全职工作，还依然要有三头六臂的时候，

when Bombeck wrote that mothers had to have six pairs of hands, even as they worked full-time jobs.

和那时候的妈妈们相比，现在的妈妈们在孩子身上投入的时间也是有过之而无不及。

Unable to justify the cost of childcare compared with their wages

工资无法和照顾孩子相比，

or, in the case of a global health crisis, faced with no childcare at all,

又或者，在这场全球性的健康危机的影响下，完全没有了托管的帮助，

women end up being the ones to walk away from work.

许多女性最后都成了各自家中离开工作岗位的那个人。

Previous economic crises in the U.S. have put men out of work, and we’ve bemoaned the hit to masculinity.

美国以前的经济危机下失业的都是男性，那时候我们还在哀叹经济危机对男性的打击。

This pandemic has hit women, specifically mothers, particularly hard,

被这次疫情打击得尤其严重的却是女性，尤其是妈妈们，

but instead of contemplating the creativity, discovery and productivity that are lost when women are forced from the workforce,

然而，在女性被逼离职场时，与其考虑因此流失的创造力、发现和生产力，

we expect them to lean in so far, they fall off a cliff.

我们期望的却是她们再向前一步，彻底摔下悬崖。

In the Bombeck column, the angel comments that the mother is too soft.

在庞贝克的专栏文章中，天使评价母亲太过软弱。

"But tough!" God replies.

“但（她们）坚韧！”上帝回答说。

"You can imagine what this mother can do or endure."

“你可以大胆地想象她的潜能和忍受能力。”

How much longer will fables of valor be held up as an excuse for using mothers to prop up a failing system?

英勇的寓言被视为利用母亲来维持一个失败的体制的借口，这样的日子还要继续到何时？

Even if women can handle it, or at least appear outwardly to be handling it, does it really have to be this hard?

就算女性能扛下来，或者至少表面上看还能扛下来，难道就一定要让她们的处境如此艰难吗？

How many fathers would find "enduring" to be a satisfying existence?

有多少父亲会觉得“忍受”是一种令人满意的生活状态？

American mothers have been the under-supported cog in the wheel of American capitalism for too long.

美国的妈妈们充当美国资本主义车轮下的齿轮的时间太长了。

We must now completely reimagine their role and start over.

我们必须现在就彻底重塑她们的角色，然后重新来过。