VOA慢速英语2016--加纳经商的女人们

AS IT IS 2016-07-05 Ghana Women in Business 加纳经商的女人们

In Ghana, some people believe certain jobs are only for men. But some Ghanaian women are starting to do traditionally male work, such as carpentry or jobs that require physical strength. And they are proving that men are not the only ones who can be tough.

Esenam Nyador is one of those women. She is one of three female taxi drivers in Accra. She is also a wife, mother of two and a student at the University of Ghana.

Nyador says she has gotten used to the strange looks she gets when she drives her taxi around town. She calls herself “Miss Taxi.”

She says the loan company and the taxi union originally rejected her when she first began her business.

“They weren’t sure I would even be able to make up sales or have a good business to pay back their car, just because I am a woman. So they were like concerned about whether I wouldn’t be open to car hijacking¹ and they’ll end up losing their assets² in the long-term."

Nyador now has regular customers, many of them women. And she is finding creative ways to grow her business.

For example, she books her clients via social media, email or text message. And unlike most male taxi drivers, she charges set prices instead of haggling³ with her customers.

Selina Adjeley Annan also works in a male-dominated field.

Annan, a single mother, works as an electrician⁴ at Teshie. She remembers the day she applied⁵ for a job. The company she was applying to took apart a fluorescent⁶ tube and asked her to fix it. They took Annan more seriously when they saw that she was able to fix the tube.

Annan says that, now, salesmen have started sending clients to her. Like Nyador, Annan has found that some people would rather work with a woman.

Annan says that when customers see her instead of a male electrician, they are surprised and often say, “I have never seen a woman electrician before.”

All of the people Annan works with are men.

Eric Adjetey Otenkorang is one of her supervisors⁷. He says there are limits to what Annan can do because she is a woman.

Otenkorang says that if “the job is a little bit risky,” he has the men handle it instead of Annan. He explains that some work is too heavy for a woman to do.

Taxi driver Esenam Nyador does not allow talk about women’s limits slow her down. She says men are just used to being the only ones who work in certain jobs.

"It all started with men…so I guess they have developed this sort of entitlement attitude.”

But, Nyador says, that way of thinking is just a habit. She says in reality, there is no such thing as “man’s work.”

Words in This Story

haggling – v. to talk or argue with someone especially in order to agree on a price

entitlement – n. the condition of having a right to have, do, or get something: the feeling or belief that you deserve to given something

1 hijacking   

n. 劫持, 抢劫 动词hijack的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• I have been told about the hijacking . 我已听说了那次劫机事件。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
• They are taking measures to guarantee against the occurrence of hijacking. 他们正采取措施防止劫机事件的发生。

2 assets   

n.财产；资产

参考例句：

• We capitalized our assets to avoid bankruptcy.我们把资产转作资金以避免破产。

3 haggling   

v.讨价还价( haggle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I left him in the market haggling over the price of a shirt. 我扔下他自己在市场上就一件衬衫讨价还价。
• Some were haggling loudly with traders as they hawked their wares. 有些人正在大声同兜售货物的商贩讲价钱。 来自辞典例句

4 electrician   

n.电工，电气技师

参考例句：

• She said she would find an electrician for us.她说她要给我们找一个电工技师。
• We need an electrician to mend the iron.我们要请电工修理熨斗。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 fluorescent   

adj.荧光的，发出荧光的

参考例句：

• They observed the deflections of the particles by allowing them to fall on a fluorescent screen.他们让粒子落在荧光屏上以观察他们的偏移。
• This fluorescent lighting certainly gives the food a peculiar color.这萤光灯当然增添了食物特别的色彩。

7 supervisors   

n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
• Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句