The Sociological Debate The Gender Pay Gap课文翻译.doc

The Sociological Debate:The Gender Pay Gap关于一个社会问题的讨论性别收入差异一、原文及译文1. The “gender gap” in pay is a widely recognized fact.Even as recently as 1994,women who worked full time year round(that is,more than 35 hours per week for 42 weeks per year)earned only 72 percent as much as men.What could account for this discrepancy?有一个公认的事实是在收入方面存在性别上的差异。甚至早在1994年，全职工作的女性工作一年，也就是说每周工作35小时，一年工作42周所获得的最多收入也仅有男性收入的百分七十二。那么我们将如何解释这种差异呢？2. Sex segregation or gender typing is viewed by many sociologists as a cause of the “gender gap” in earnings.Sex segregation refers to the fact that men and women are concentrated in different occupations.For instance,in 1989,jobs that were over 80 percent female included secretary,childcare worker,hairdresser,cashier,bookkeeper,Telephoneoperator,receptionist,typist,elementary school teacher,librarian,and nurse.Jobs that were over 80 percentmale included doctor,lawyer,dentist,taxi driver,plumber,electrician,carpenter,firefighter,auto mechanic,machinist,and truck driver.很多社会学家认为造成收入性别差异的一个原因是男女之间存在职业中的性别隔离和不同的性别特征。职业中的性别隔离现象指的是男女分别集中于不同的工作领域。拿1989年的数据来说，秘书，儿童保育员，理发师，出纳，会计，话务员，接待员，打字员，小学老师，图书管理员，护士这些岗位超过百分八十是女性工作者。而医生，律师，牙医，出租车司机，管道工，电工，木工，消防员，汽车修理工，机械师和卡车司机这些岗位超过百分八十是男性工作者。3. In 1990,many women still worked in primarily female occupations.Of the 56 million women in the labor force in 1990,one-third worked in just 10 of the 503 detailed occupations recognized in the U.S.Census.These top-ten occupations included secretary,elementary school teacher,cashier,registered nurse,bookkeeper,nurses aide,and waitress.Men were more evenly distributed across the 503 census occupational groups;only 25 percent worked in the top ten occupations(versus 33 percent of women).1990年，许多妇女仍然从事着女性职业，在5600万妇女劳动力中，仅有三分之一的人从事着503个被美国人口普查承认的职业中的十个职业。这十大职业包括秘书，小学老师，收银员，护士，簿记员，护工和服务员。而男性则更均匀得分布在这503个职业中，只有百分25的男性从事这十大职业，而有百分之33的女性从事着这十大职业。4. The reason that sex segregation is problematic is because the gender composition of a job is associated with the pay received for that job.This finding has emerged in numerous studies.An analysis of 1980 census data showed that both women and men are directly disadvantaged by employment in an occupation that is predominantly female.Even “after adjusting for cognitive,social,and physical skill demands,amenitiesdisamenities,demands for effort,and industrial and organization characteristics,jobs pay less if they contain a higher proportion of females”.为什么会存在职业性别隔离这个问题，那因为工作职位上的性别占比与这项工作的报酬有关。这个发现是在大量的研究后总结出来的。1980年的人口普查分析数据发现当一份职业主要是以女性为主时，无论男女在求职时都不占据优势。即使工作调整为认知型社交型体力劳动型，设备完善或不完善，需要精力付出的职业类型，需要勤奋工作的类型或者有团队合作特点的类型，一旦工作中包含更多的女性比例，那么酬劳就会更少。5. Although an Equal Pay Act was established in 1963,it has done little to eradicate pay differences attributable to gender.The Equal Pay Act requires employers to provide equal pay to workers in the same job.Consequently,the gender gap in pay hasnt been remedied since the 1963 Act because men and women do not work at the same jobs.As long as employers segregate men and women do not work at the same jobs,the best hope for narrowing the pay gap is to establish a pay equity policy,meaning that pay policies remunerate workers on the basis of the worth of their work and not the sex,race,or other personal characteristics of the majority of workers in a job.Comparable worth policies would be one such strategy.尽管1963年出台了同酬法案，但这一点也没有消除因性别差异造成的工资差异。同酬法案要求雇主在同一份工作中向工人提供平等的工资。但是由于男性和女性并没有在同一岗位工作，因此，自1963年起性别收入差异没有得到改善。只要雇主将男女分配在不同的岗位就不会违反同酬法案。缩小收入差距最大的目标是建立公平的薪酬制度，这就意味着工作报酬应该是基于工作本身的价值，而不是性别，种族，或者是工作者本身的某个个人特征。这才会是一个比较好的薪酬制度。6.However,economistsandsociologistsdifferintheirexplanationsofhowoccuptionalsegregationleadstoagendergapinpay.Economiststypicallyfocusontheoccuptionalchoiceswomenmake,whilesociologiststendtofocusontheconstraintswomenface.Specifically,manyeconomists-aswellasemployersandpublicpolicymakers-endorseahumancapitaltheoryexplanation.Humancapitaltheory,developedbyGaryBecker,arguesthatindividualsmakeinvestmentintheirownhumancapitalinordertoincreasetheirproductivityandearnings.Humancapitalincludesformalschooling,on-the-jobtraining,andworkexperience.Thosewhoinvestmoreintheirownhumancapitalareconsideredmoreproductive,andconsequentlyarepaidhigherwages.经济学家和社会学家对于职业性别隔离为何产生性别收入差异这个问题给出了不同的解释。经济学家主张女性选择职业，而社会学家倾向于关注女性工作所面临的约束。具体而言，很多经济学者，包括公司老板和政府官员，赞同人力资本说。来自于贝克尔加里的人力资本说认为人力资本中人力本身是一种可以提高生产力和劳动报酬的资本。人力资本包括正规教育，职业技能培训，和工作经验。投资于人力资本将提高劳动生产力，以此来获得更多的收入。7.Thistheoryhasbeenspecificallyappliedtoexplaingenderdifferencesinearnings.Humancapitaltheoristsreasonthatwomenintentionallyselectoccupationsthatareeasytomoveinandoutof,whilestillprovidingmoderatelygoodincomes.Centraltothisargumentistheassumptionthatwomensprimaryallegianceistohomeandfamily;thustheyseekundemandingdead-endjobsthatrequirelittlepersonalinvestmentintrainingorskillsacquisitionsothattheycanbettertendtotheirhouseholdresponsibilities.Whenwomenleavethelaborforcetorearchildren,theskillstheyhavedeteriorateandtheysufferawagepenaltywhentheyre-enter.Moreover,employersmayalsochoosetoinvestlessinwomenworkersbecausetheybelievewomenwillworklesscontinuouslythanmen,andconsequentlyemployerswillnotrealizethereturnoninvestmentinwomenworkersthattheywillinmaleworkers. 这个学说已经被广泛用来解释收入性别差异。人力资本说认为女性之所以选择那些女性职业是因为这些职业比较自由，方便出入，并且能获得相对应的不错的报酬。这个现象追随其根源是因为女性本性忠于家庭。因此她们会选择一些要求不高，没有前途的工作，这些工作不需要过多的培训和技能，这样她们就可以更好的承担起照顾家庭的责任。当女性离开工作岗位生育孩子时，她们的工作技能就会生疏，当她们重返工作岗位时，她们的收入将大打折扣。此外，雇主也会选择减少使用女性劳动力，因为他们认为女性劳动力工作时间少于男性工作者，所以雇主不会实现对男女人力资源的均等投资。8.Feminist sociologists critique human capital theory on several grounds.First,they dispute the claim that women freelychoosecertain occupations.The forces blocking women from freely choosing a career may be indirect.For instance,childhood socialization promoting traditionalgender roles often indirectly limits womens career choices;girls may choose occupations such as teacher or nurse,which are viewed as compatible withfemininetraits such as warmth or nurturance.More direct obstacles to womens career choices come in the form of discriminatory bosses,coworkers,and customers.Workplace gatekeepershave been shown to prohibit women from entering certain occupations.For example State Farm Insurance was successfully sued in 1992 for sex discrimination;the firm was forced to provide backpay to 814 women who were denied jobs as insurance agents because of their sex.主张男女平等的社会学家对人力资本说有几点看法。第一，他们认为女性是自由选择职业的。阻止女性自由选择职业的因素是间接的。童年时期对于社会传统的性别角色的概念往往间接影响女性的职业选择。女孩一般会选择例如老师或者是护士这类工作，因为这些职业具有例如温和和有修养这样的女性特征。更多阻碍女性选择职业的直接因素来自于老板，同事和客户对性别的歧视。有些公司的人力资源部门拒绝招聘女性工作者。1992年州立农业保险公司因性别歧视被起诉，这家公司被迫向因性别而被拒收成为保险代理员的814名女性补发工资。9. Sociologistsfurtherarguethathumancapitaltheoryneglectspowerdifferentialsbetweenmenandwomenintheworkplaceandsociety.Numerousstudiesrevealthatevenwhenmenandwomenareinthesamejob,menarepaidmore.AstudyofpaypracticesintheBritishBakersUnionshowedthatmenwerehiredtobakebreadforhighwages,andwomenwerehiredtobakecakesandcookiesforthelowestunionpayrates. 社会学家一个更深层次的观点是人力资本说忽略了男性和女性在工作中在社会中的不同作用。众多研究表明，男性和女性在同一工作岗位时，男性获得的报酬更多些。一项来自于英国烘焙联合总会的调查研究显示，男面包师的收入更高一些，而制作蛋糕和饼干的女烘焙师收入最低。10. Theimplicationofthisstudyisthatwomensworkisdevaluedbysocietyandbyemployers,andthuswomenarerewardedlessforperformingtheirwork.Moreover,womensrelativepowerlessnesspreventsthemfromredefiningtheworktheydoasskilled.Aslongasjobspredominantlyfilledbywomen,suchascaringforchildrenandtheelderly,areviewedasunskilled,wagesinwomensjobswillremainlow.此研究表明女性工作价值被社会，被公司所贬低，因此女性从工作中所获得的报酬是低于她工作的价值的。此外，女性无力去重新定义她们所做的有技术性的工作的价值。只要是由妇女占主导的职业所获得的报酬就会比较低，例如照顾孩子和老人的保姆这种被认为没有技术含量的职业。11. Thesecompetingexplanationshaveverydifferentimplicationsforthefuture.Accordingtohumancapitaltheory,thegendergapinpaycoulddisappearifwomenandmenreceiveequalamountsofeducationandworkplacetraining,andiftheytakeequalresponsibilityforfamilycommitments,suchaschidcare.Iffeministsociologistsarecorrectinarguingthatwomensworkisdevalued,adrasticchangeingenderideologymustoccurifmenandwomenaretobecomeequallyrewardedfortheirparticipationintheworkplace. 这些不同的观点对于未来有着不同的影响。根据人力资本说，男性和女性通过相同的教育和职场培训，在家庭中承担对等的责任，例如照顾孩子，那么性别收入差异就会被消除。如果社会学家所认为的，女性的工作价值是被贬值的观点是正确的，那么就需要纠正性别歧视的思想，男性和女性在工作中要获得平等的报酬。二、名词术语解释：1.Sex segregation-性别隔离，主要针对工作中的男女，文中应该是指职业中的性别隔离。工作中的性别隔离 (sex segregation) 可以分为两种：水平隔离 (horizontal sex segregation) 和垂直隔离 (vertical sex segregation) 。水平隔离是指女性难以进入某些被视为是“男性的工作”，例如以体力劳动为代表的职业：司机、搬运工，以及有较高的社会地位名声、强调专业的工作，例如医生、律师、大学教授。而有些工作则被认为是“女性的工作”，通常是类似以家务劳动或是强调女性阴柔、善于照顾、护理特点的工作，如家政服务，护士，幼儿园老师以及大多数的服务业。垂直隔离则是指男性与女性在同一行业中，男性通常有着较高的职位与薪资，女性则处于较不需要技术的低职位，薪资低且不易升迁。以及时同样一份工作，雇主也常透过某些方式造成男性与女性同工不同酬。例如给女性兼职而非全职的工作，或是以某些细微划分工作内容或冠以不同名称，以宣称那男女的工作并不相同，所以待遇不一样。2.gender typing-性别特征3.U.S.Census-美国人口普查3.Equal Pay Act-同酬法案 4.humancapitaltheory-人力资源说。人力资本说的主要代表人物有克拉维斯（Irving Kravis）、凯南（Peter Kenen）、基辛（Kessing）等人。他们认为，一个国家或某一个人为其未来的长远发展所进行的投资，并不仅仅局限于表现为企业、厂房、机器、设备、技术发明等物质形态，同时在很大程度上也表现为在教育、训练、医疗、保健、卫生、社区服务等各种人力资源开发上的投入。前者为物质形态的实物资本（Physical Capital），后者可以概括为人力资本。5.backpay-欠薪，补发工资3、 长难句分析：1.Even “after adjusting for cognitive,social,and physical skill demands,amenitiesdisamenities,demands for effort,and industrial and organization characteristics,jobs pay less if they contain a higher proportion of females”这句话有很多名词，根据句子大意都是描述工作，根据词意可翻译为认知型，社交型，体力劳动型，设备完善或不完善，需要精力付出的职业类型，需要勤奋工作的类型或有团队合作特点的类型。整句话翻译：即使工作调整为认知型社交型体力劳动型，设备完善或不完善，需要精力付出的职业类型，需要勤奋工作的类型或者有团队合作特点的类型，一旦工作中包含更多的女性比例，那么酬劳就会更少。2.As long as employers segregate men and women do not work at the same jobs,the best hope for narrowing the pay gap is to establish a pay equity policy,meaning that pay policies remunerate workers on the basis of the worth of their work and not the sex,race,or other personal characteristics of the majority of workers in a job.这个句子可以分成两句话来看，第一部分就是由As long as作为连词连接两个句子，文中将后面一句话省略，翻译时将它补充进来，只要雇主将男女分配在不同的岗位就不会违反同酬法案。第二部的主语是the best hope for narrowing the pay gap，meaning that引导从句。意思是缩小收入差距最大的目标是建立公平的薪酬制度，这就意味着工作报酬应该是基于工作本身的价值，而不是性别，种族，或者是工作者本身的某个个人特征。3. Centraltothisargumentistheassumptionthatwomensprimaryallegianceistohomeandfamily;thustheyseekundemandingdead-endjobsthatrequirelittlepersonalinvestmentintrainingorskillsacquisitionsothattheycanbettertendtotheirhouseholdresponsibilities.dead-endjobs在句子解释为没有前途的工作。前半句是原因结论，后半句是具体表现。句子的成分并不复杂，第二句话使用连词so that连接两句话，前一句话用that从句解释jobs。整句话翻译为：这个现象追随其根源是因为女性本性忠于家庭。因此她们会选择一些要求不高，没有前途的工作，这些工作不需要过多的培训和技能，这样她们就可以更好的承担起照顾家庭的责任。4.For instance,childhood socialization promoting traditionalgender roles often indirectly limits womens career choices;girls may choose occupations such as teacher or nurse,which are viewed as compatible withfemininetraits such as warmth or nurturance.这个句子的翻译难点是对于childhood socialization promoting traditionalgender roles意思的理解，这部分是句子的主语，儿童时期，社会对于传统性别角色的概念的推进提升，作为主语，根据意思可以翻译成童年时期对于社会传统性别角色的概念。整个句子的意思就是例如在童年时期对于社会传统性别角色的概念往往间接限制了女性对职业的选择。后半句话，意思是女孩往往会选择类似老师或者是护士这类职业，这些职业具有例如温和和有修养这样的女性特征。5.Moreover,womensrelativepowerlessnesspreventsthemfromredefiningtheworktheydoasskilled.Aslongasjobspredominantlyfilledbywomen,suchascaringforchildrenandtheelderly,areviewedasunskilled,wagesinwomensjobswillremainlow.Prevent sth from doing sth意思是阻止某人做某事。句子直译的意思是女性的无力阻止他们重新定义他们所做的有技术含量的工作，翻译成汉语，意思是，女性无力去重新定义她们所做的有技术性的工作的价值。后一部分，用as long as连接两个句子，suchascaringforchildrenandtheelderly,areviewedasunskilled用来补充说明jobs。整句话意思是只要是由妇女占主导的职业所获得的报酬就会低，例如照顾孩子和老人的保姆这种被认为没有技术含量的职业。四、心得体会：1. 对于文章内容的体会；整个文章讨论的是性别收入差异问题，先是叙述了这一现象，指出了职业性别隔离这一原因，接着是说明经济学家和社会学家对这个问题