VOA慢速英语2014 援助组织称性别平等能终结贫困和饥饿

 

AS IT IS 2014-11-26 Group Claims Gender¹ Equality Will End Hunger, Poverty

A Christian² aid group says problems like hunger, malnutrition³ and poverty cannot be solved until and unless women are treated as well as men. The group Bread for the World released⁴ a report on hunger this week. It says the number and percentage of hungry people worldwide is dropping. But it says the drop could be greater if governments and societies worked to make sure women had rights and power equal to those that men have.   

Fouzia Dashir of Kenya created the Northern Organization of Social Empowerment. She works⁵ with women farmers, showing them how to earn money by growing cash crops. She told VOA that women should not hope that men will give them power -- they should take it.

“Women should not wait for men. Women should not wait for any institution. It’s about them -- they should wake up, they should get out of their comfort zone, work together and, and do so much, you know, for themselves.”

Gary Barker leads a non-governmental organization that seeks to involve men in fighting for the equal treatment of women and ending violence against women. Mr. Barker says improving the lives of women will not hurt men. In fact, he says, just the opposite will happen.

“We use an expression off of the community level that ‘men of quality are not afraid of equality.’ It is really about changing what our relations as men and women are. And we should be happy and celebrate that as men, not be afraid of it.”

Gary Barker notes that many men use violence against women. But he says the majority of men do not. He says they should work to keep other men and boys from attacking women.  

Asma Lateef works for Bread for the World. She says just 10 percent of agricultural development aid goes to women, yet 43 percent of all farmers are women.

Ms. Lateef says governments should help with child care and require equal pay for equal work. She says employers⁶ should pay women when they are sick, and not take money from their wages when they are unable to work for a short time.

“There are so many things that women do -- the unpaid⁷ care work, the household chores -- that are really not factored into programs. So women are in, in the end doing twice as much work.”

Bread for the World says men should help women with household duties, sharing some of the heavy burden women now carry mostly on their own.

Mr. Barker says if men did more house work and caregiving, and women had more power, men and their families would be helped.

“You know, women’s income coming into the household is good for us as men, too. It frees the pressure on our backs to be sole⁸ providers. And I think we show the economic data that would say the US GDP would grow by 9 percent if women were in the paid workforce⁹ as much as men are.”

Bread for the World says girls should be permitted to attend school for as long as boys do. It notes studies show that when girls in Africa are able to complete their schooling¹⁰, their families are less likely to live in poverty. 

Worldwide, 800 women die giving birth every day and 39,000 young girls are married to older men each day. That is 14 million every year, or one in nine girls. The group says three-quarters of girls in Niger, two-thirds of girls in Bangladesh and half of the girls in India become what are known as “child brides.”  

Bread for the World has been releasing¹¹ reports on poverty and hunger for 20 years. The group plans to give its report to all 535 members of the United States Congress¹². This is the first time it has used one of its reports to strongly call for equal treatment of men and women.

The group notes that, for the first time in American history, 100 of the members of Congress are women. That is about the same rate as the rest of the world, where 22% of parliamentary seats are held by women.

Words from This Story

malnutrition – n. the unhealthy condition that results from not eating enough food or not eating enough healthy food; poor nutrition

equal – adj. the same in number, amount, degree, rank, or quality

cash crop – n. a crop that is grown to be sold rather than for use by the farmer

wage – n. an amount of money that a worker is paid based on the number of hours or days that are worked

access – n. a way of being able to use or get something

discrimination – n. the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people

household – n. the people in a family or other group that are living together in one house; adj. of or relating to a house or to the people living in a house

property – n. something that is owned by a person or business

1 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。

2 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

3 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

4 released   

v.释放( release的过去式和过去分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• With hindsight it is easy to say they should not have released him. 事后才说他们本不应该释放他，这倒容易。

5 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

6 employers   

雇主( employer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Employers must consider all candidates impartially and without bias. 雇主必须公平而毫无成见地考虑所有求职者。
• The onus is on employers to follow health and safety laws. 雇主有义务遵行健康安全法。

7 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

8 sole   

adj.惟一的；独一无二的，专用的；独占的

参考例句：

• She is my sole trust.她是我惟一信赖的人。
• My sole purpose is to help you.我唯一的目的是帮助你。

9 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。

10 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

11 releasing   

v.释放( release的现在分词 )；放开；发布；发行

参考例句：

• Releasing his arm, she laid her hand upon his shoulder. 她放掉他的胳膊，却把手放到了他的肩上。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• The drag operation is still terminated by releasing the mouse button. 释放鼠标按键时，拖动操作将立即终止。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

12 Congress   

n.(代表)大会；(C-:美国等国的)国会，议会

参考例句：

• There were some days to wait before the Congress.大会的召开还有几天时间。
• After 18 years in Congress,he intented to return to private life.在国会供职18年后，他打算告老还乡。