Chapter 2　经济聚焦

80%的英国公司男性比女性工资高　80 Percent of Companies Pay Men More Than Women

News Background　新闻导读

在历史的进程中，女性往往被视为“较软弱的一群”，社会地位一直居于男性之下，女权运动就是通过提倡女性权利（如法律平等权、参政权、受教权、工作权以及对于身体的自主权）来反对性别歧视主义。在很多国家中，某些特定的性别歧视是违法的，几乎所有国家都有立法保障某几种性别群体的权利，英国也出台一系列的法律法规保障女性的职场地位和薪资待遇。

News Transcript　新闻正文

It is an uncomfortable truth about the society we live in,when it comes to pay,men and women are far from equal.

This company employs mostly women.It's hoped that by exposing the pay gap,it will help empower women in the workplace.“It's created so much debate and discussion about pay and about inequality in the workplace.It creates a sort of opportunity for people to think again about whether there is discrimination,their offices perhaps and how they're perceiving women and how they're defining salaries.”Thousands of British companies employing more than 250 people have been forced to disclose pay details.

Around 80 percent pay men more than women.13 percent including the tech giant Apple pay women more.And just 7 percent including big chains such as KFC,McDonald's and Starbucks say they have no gap at all.Among the worst offenders is the low-cost airline Ryanair where women make up only 3%of top earners.That's excluding most of the company's management who are based in Ireland.Ryanair blames the fgures on men mainly flling pilot roles.

The construction industry and the fnancial sector also have large pay gaps.The average woman employee at Barclays or Lloyds Bank can expect to be paid more than 40%less than the average man.There have been some high-profle pay disputes,too—with actress Claire Foy who plays Queen Elizabeth on the Netflix series The Crown earning less than her male counterpart.

The British Prime Minister has vowed to tackle what she called the“burning injustice”of gender inequality.Only 30 percent of MPs are women.“We have to do with those stereotypes about what kind of jobs men and women can do,about what leadership looks like,why it is that men and women ask for a pay rise just as often as each other but men are four times more likely to get it.I know there are gender pay gap deniers.This data is hopefully starting a conversation about how these people are out of time actually going on in our country.”

The government says that this isn't simply about naming and shaming companies into paying men and women equal amounts of money.It's about kick-starting a public discussion to try and make the workplace as representative as the world around us.There's no punishment for pay gaps although companies that fail to publish their figures face legal action.Some politicians argue that without a major societal shift,hefty fnes is the only way of forcing frms to close the gap.

Translaton　参考译文

如今，社会中男女薪酬之间的巨大差距是令人不安的事实。

这家公司的雇员大多数是女性。人们希望揭发薪酬差距，这有益于提高女性的工作地位。职场中的待遇不公平现象总会引起很多讨论和争议。“它制造了一种机会，让人们重新思考职场中是否存在歧视问题，以及他们如何看待女性及如何定义薪水。”上千家公司超过250名雇员的英国企业被迫公开员工薪酬明细。

近80%公司中的男性收入高于女性。13%的公司中女性收入高于男性，包括科技巨头苹果公司。只有7%的像肯德基、麦当劳和星巴克这样的大型连锁企业声称男女薪酬并无差别。低成本航空公司瑞安航空的男女薪资是最不合理的，该公司女性只占收入最高的3%，这些并不包括爱尔兰总部管理层的薪资。瑞安航空说这是大多数飞行员都是男性的原因。

建筑业和金融业中也存在明显的男女待遇不公现象。巴克莱银行或莱斯银行的女性员工的平均薪资比男性员工低40%以上。也有一些备受关注的薪酬纠纷——在网飞公司的电视剧《王冠》中饰演伊丽莎白女王的女演员克莱尔·福伊的收入低于男演员。

英国首相发誓要解决她所说的性别中的“严重歧视”问题。国会议员中女性议员只占30%。“我们必须摒除这些成见，比如男女在职场中可以扮演什么角色？领导力如何？为什么同样要求涨薪，男性员工成功的概率却比女性高4倍？我知道一些人仍在否认待遇不公的现象。公布的数据有望引起公众讨论，在我们国家他们的行为如何的不合时宜。”

政府称，这么做并不是为了点名让公司雇用者难堪，让男女员工获得相同的薪酬，而是展开一场公开讨论，努力让工作场所变得像我们周围的环境一样公平透明。如果企业存在待遇不公的问题并不会受到惩罚，但是拒绝公布薪酬明细的企业会遭到起诉。一些官员认为，没有重大的社会转变，巨额罚款是迫使企业缩小男女薪资差距的唯一途径。

Listening Comprehension　听力理解

1.It is an uncomfortable truth about the society we live in,when it comes to pay,men and women are far from_____.

2.Around______percent pay men more than women.

A.80 B.18 C.8

3.What is the only way of forcing frms to close the gap without a major societal shift?

Hot Words　新闻热词

uncomfortable[ʌnˈkʌmf（ə）təb（ə）l]adj.不舒服的；不安的

equal[ˈi：kwəl]adj.平等的

employ[ɪmˈplɒɪ；em-]vt.雇用

expose[ɪkˈspəʊz；ek-]vt.揭露，揭发

inequality[ɪnɪˈkwɒlɪtɪ]n.不平等

discrimination[dɪˌskrɪmɪˈneɪʃ（ə）n]n.歧视；区别

perceive[pəˈsiːv]vt.理解；认知

disclose[dɪsˈkləʊz]vt.公开；揭露

offender[əˈfendə（r）]n.罪犯

blame[bleɪm]vt.责备；归咎于

dispute[dɪˈspjuːt；ˈdɪspjuːt]vt.辩论；怀疑

vow[vaʊ]vt.发誓

gender[ˈdʒendə（r）]n.性别

deny[dɪˈnaɪ]]vt.否认

hefty[ˈheftɪ]adj.重的

Listening Analysis　精彩解析

1.It is an uncomfortable truth about the society we live in,when it comes to pay,men and women are far from equal.

far from远离；完全不

例句　In reality,this is far from the truth.

在现实生活中，事实远非如此。

Beijing is far from Shanghai.

北京离上海很远。

2.It creates a sort of opportunity for people to think again about whether there is discrimination,their offices perhaps and how they're perceiving women and how they're defning salaries.

a sort of一种；某种

例句　According to Einstein’s theory,the speed of light becomes a sort of ultimate speed limit.

根据爱因斯坦的理论，光的速度变成了一种终极的速度限制。

Recently,he has been studying a sort of flower that can eat insects.

最近，他一直在研究一种可以吃虫子的花。

答案

1.equal

2.A

3.Hefty fnes is the only way of forcing frms to close the gap without a major societal shift