考博英语外刊丨The gender pay gap: transparency on its own

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The gender pay gap: transparency on its own isn’t enough

题材：科普类

出处：The Guardian《卫报》

字数：561 words

[1] The difference between men’s and women’s median hourly pay in the UK has edged up since companies with 250 employees or more were forced to publish this information six years ago. From 11.9% in 2017-18, the gap rose to 12.2% last year and stayed the same this year, according to analysis by the Financial Times. The proportion of employers paying men more than women has also risen, and now stands at 79.5%. This is not the result that those who pushed for compulsory reporting hoped for. The idea was that transparency would bring change, through a combination of pressure from better-informed female workers and the embarrassment of bosses.

【自六年前拥有250名或250名以上员工的公司被迫公布这一信息以来，英国男性和女性的时薪中间值之间的差距有所上升。根据英国《金融时报》的分析，这一差距从2017-2018年的11.9%上升到去年的12.2%，今年保持不变。雇主向男性支付的薪酬高于女性的比例也有所上升，目前为79.5%。这不是那些推动强制报告的人所希望的结果。他们的想法是，透明度将带来变化，通过更明智的女性员工施加的压力和老板的尴尬共同作用来实现这一变化。】

[2] The headline figures conceal a huge amount of variation. Education, finance and construction are the sectors with the biggest gaps – all over 22%. Of the three, only construction has made significant progress towards shrinking it in the period since compulsory reporting was brought in. Well-known businesses with huge gaps include Lloyds, with 34.8%, and prestigious law firms. The figures are a reason for anger, as well as concern, for anyone who believes that men and women should be financially equal. But the most painful effects will be felt at the bottom of the income distribution. Women, particularly black and minority ethnic women, pensioners and lone parents are consistently over-represented among the poorest households. Worryingly, research suggests that where the pay gap has shrunk, this is due to the falling wage levels of low-paid men, as well as the beneficial impact of the minimum wage.

【标题数字掩盖了巨大的差异。教育、金融和建筑业是差距最大的行业，超过22%。在这三个行业中，只有建筑业在被迫发布报告后的一段时间内在缩小差距方面取得了重大进展。有巨大差距的知名企业包括劳埃德银行（34.8%）和著名的律师事务所。对于那些认为男女在经济上应该平等的人来说，这些数字是愤怒和担忧的原因。但是处于收入分配的底层的人群是最痛苦的。在这些最贫穷的家庭中，妇女，特别是黑人和少数民族妇女、养老金领取者以及独立养育孩子的单亲父母的比例一直过高。令人担忧的是，研究表明，在工资差距缩小的地方，是低薪男性工资水平的下降，以及最低工资在发挥着有利影响。】

[3] How they will address the stubborn gap in pay levels is a question which all politicians, but above all members of the government with relevant briefs, should be called on to answer. Several current trends point to the likelihood of the situation becoming worse rather than better, with a growing number of women leaving the workforce to become unpaid carers. Already, the weaker finances of women with children, known as the “motherhood penalty”, are an important factor in explaining the disparity between male and female earnings, which widens with age. The government’s recent commitment to expand childcare provision is welcome. But nurseries remain seriously underfunded, and the number of childminders has declined by 9% in a year.

【他们将如何解决薪酬水平中难以去除的差距，这是一个所有政治家，尤其是所有有相关简报的政府成员都应该回答的问题。目前的一些趋势表明，情况可能会变得更糟，而不是更好，越来越多的女性离开劳动力队伍，成为无偿护理人员。有孩子的妇女的财务状况较差，即所谓的“母性惩罚”，作为解释男女收入差距问题的一个重要因素，这种差距随着年龄的增长而扩大。政府最近承诺扩大儿童保育服务，这是值得欢迎的。但托儿所的资金仍然严重不足，保育员的数量在一年内下降了9%。】

[4] The wealth gap between men and women also requires scrutiny, as property and other assets become an increasingly important source of financial security, particularly in old age. Research for the 2020 Commission on a Gender-Equal Economy found that women in their early 60s with private pensions typically have a pot worth just one-fifth as much as men of the same age. State pension income inequality has reduced, partly due to enrolment, but low-income divorced or separated women remain a financially vulnerable group.

【男女之间的贫富差距也需要仔细审查，因为财产和其他资产越来越成为经济保障的重要来源，尤其是对老年人来说。2020年，性别平等经济委员会研究发现，60岁出头拥有私人养老金的女性，她们的养老金通常只有同龄男性的五分之一。虽然国家养老金收入不平等现象有所减少，部分原因是系统的自动登记，但低收入与伴侣离婚或是分居的妇女仍然是经济弱势群体。】

[5] Improved financial education is one part of the solution to this interconnected series of problems. A much stronger emphasis by policymakers on improving social infrastructure, by investing in the various care systems, is another. Ethnicity pay gaps also require closer monitoring (currently, reporting is voluntary although Labour and the women and equalities committee have called for this to change).

【改善金融教育是解决这一系列相互关联问题的一个举措。另一方面，政策制定者更加强调通过投资各种护理系统来改善社会基础设施。种族薪酬差距也需要更密切的监测（目前，报告是自愿提交的，尽管劳动委员会和妇女与平等委员会呼吁改变这种情况）。】

[6] But as the latest figures show, an obligation to report on pay gaps does not automatically make them shrink. What the information does is to let employees know where they stand, and to provide an empirical basis for the argument that women’s position in society is not getting any better.

【但正如最新数据所示，报告薪酬差距的义务并不会自动使薪酬差距缩小。这些信息的作用是让员工知道自己的立场，并为女性在社会中的地位没有得到任何改善的论点提供经验基础。