VOA常速英语2016--缅甸家政女工在泰国受到不公正待遇

缅甸家政女工在泰国受到不公正待遇

Every year, an estimated two million migrant workers from Myanmar join the Thai workforce¹ seeking better pay and working conditions. While the minimum wage has risen to about $10 a day, rights groups say female migrant domestic workers continue to face abuses behind closed doors. For laborers³ from Myanmar like Nang Gong Kham-who asked not to show her face on camera-life without a proper work permit constrains⁴ her daily travel.

据估计，为了追求更高薪水及更优越的工作环境，每年有200万名缅甸移民工人成为泰国劳力。尽管最低工资已经涨到每天10美元，但权力组织表示国内的女性家政工私下还是会受到虐待。不愿在镜头前露脸的缅甸工人楠宫克表示没有正规工作许可证就是对她活生生的限制。

“I never got any days off. If I wanted to go outside, I had to ask permission. Sometimes I needed to go help my relatives who were sick. I asked for time off and they told me I had to finish my work and could only go for one or two hours and had to come back right away.”

“我从来没有休过一天假。如果我想出去，我得先得到允许。有时候我得去照顾生病的亲戚。我去请假，但他们要我必须完成自己的工作，并且只能离开1-2小时，然后必须立即回来工作。”

Isolation⁵ and long hours are common obstacles that domestic workers face in finding the time to seek local support networks for help. Migrant aid worker Pim Saenwee often finds that the only solution is to go to the root of the problem-even if it means travel after hours.

孤独及长时间工作是家政工们所面临的共同难题，因此她们正寻找机会向当地援助网寻求帮助。移民援助工人皮姆?萨维常常觉得解决这个问题唯一的方法就是从根本入手，即使要花数小时在路上，他也要去做。

“It's hard for us to get connected with the domestic workers because they're kept in private houses. For outsiders like us, it's hard to get in, and hard for them to get out. In past, many maids are abused with wages and rights abuse and sexual abuse. That's why Map needs to help them.”

“对我们来说，要与那些家政工们取得联系实属困难。因她们都在私人宅里，禁止外出。像我们这样的外人很难进去，她们也很难出来。过去，许多女佣都会在薪资及人权问题上受到虐待，甚至还会受到性虐待。因此Map才要帮助她们。”

As the voice of female domestic workers in Asia becomes louder, a core problem remains⁶ in the traditional view of the profession. A new report from the International Labor² Organization says more than a quarter of women employed in Asia work more than 48 hours a week. And it's a particular issue with domestic workers, points out ILO migrant labor expert Jackie Pollock.

随着家政女工们的呼声在亚洲逐渐升温，这种职业传统观念中的核心问题依然存在。国际劳工组织的一项最新报道称，亚洲超过四分之一的女工每周工作超过48小时。国际劳工组织的外来劳工专家杰克?普鲁克指出这样问题在家政工行业尤为严重。

“It's a gender⁷ issue that domestic work is not seen as work because it's something that women do and housewives are not paid to do all the work that they do. So then you bring in somebody from outside to do that work and it's still not considered work and still not protected by labor laws.”

“仅仅因为女性从事家政工作不被当作工作看待就是性别歧视。即使家庭主妇工作也不会得到报酬。那么你从外面找个人去做这个工作，它仍旧不会被视为一项工作并且不会受到劳动法保护，”她说。

 

As Thailand moves forward to simplify work permits for migrant laborers in the country, time will tell if working conditions for domestic workers will improve.

随着泰国不断简化外来工作者的许可证，时间将会检验这些家政工们的工作情况是否得到改善。

1 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。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

4 constrains   

强迫( constrain的第三人称单数 )； 强使； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• We'll ignore the continuity constrains. 我们往往忽略连续约束条件。
• It imposes constrains, restricting nature's freedom. 它具有限制自然界自由度的强制性。

5 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

6 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。

7 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。