什么是“母职惩罚”？

今天，微博上一项“研究”引发热议。据了解，该研究并未经同行评审正式发表，目前发布在预印本平台medRxiv上。

网友表示，为了催生，真是拼了。借此机会，我们来看看另一项关于“母职惩罚”（motherhood penalty）的新研究。

🤔️小作业：

A. It is influenced by the size of the company the mother works for.

B. It is alleviated when the mother is the family's breadwinner.

C. It is not affected by the mother's level of education.

D. It disappears as the child gets older.

A. Reduced likelihood of being hired.

B. Lower salaries than women without children.

C. Lesser savings for retirement compared to men.

D. Fewer opportunities for higher education.

A. They are rapidly evolving.

B. They are consistent with those in Sweden.

C. They tend to place the burden of childcare on mothers.

D. They advocate for equal parenting responsibilities.

无注释原文：

Not a single woman can escape the 'motherhood penalty'—even breadwinners, new study finds

From: Fortune

Many people say that parenthood is a priceless gift, but not everyone has to put their money where their mouth is—especially fathers. Much has been studied on the financial and professional hits women take when having a child, but new research that claims to have analyzed roughly 100 times the data that past studies have done on the topic hints at a main driving force behind the “motherhood penalty”— America's cultural stereotypes regarding work and parenthood. 

Douglas Almond, Yi Cheng, and Cecilia Machado examined more than 800,000 earnings reports from the U.S. unemployment insurance program during 1990 to 2010 to find how much women actually lose when they become mothers, examining different scenarios in which the motherhood penalty might be smaller. They called what they found “discouraging:” It hits all mothers in America, regardless of their pay, company, or education. 

And it happens almost instantaneously: Whereas the arrival of a firstborn child doesn't have any effect on a man's earnings, moms experience a 51% dock in pay, equivalent to an average of $8,000 annually. The motherhood penalty only persisted as the child aged; researchers found that six years after the first child's birth, the pay gap between father and mother increased slightly. 

It didn't matter if the mother worked for a woman or at a mostly woman-dominant firm. It also didn't matter the size of the company the mother worked for. Or if she went to college. And it didn't matter if the mother also happened to be the breadwinner in the family.

“What's striking about the U.S. motherhood penalty is how universal it seems,” Almond tells Fortune. “Even when the female partner outearns her male partner and we might expect the lower-paid dad to 'step up' at home, we find a still larger motherhood penalty: around 60% of earnings.”

In Sweden, by contrast, Almond says there is no motherhood penalty when the woman outearns her male partner. “The Swedish pattern makes more economic sense—the man likely has a lower opportunity cost,” he added, referring to the country's different cultural expectations.  

“There is a culture of U.S. dads not contributing as much childcare as in other countries,” he said, pointing to his own experience as a father. While based in New York City, his wife is Swedish and their daughters have dual citizenship in the two countries. He said he was “always struck by how few dads were at playgrounds in New York City” and the assumption that he was just “filling in.” The difference is visible in Stockholm, he said, where “you see as many dads as moms caring for their children.”

It's this American stereotype—that child-rearing should fall on the mother—that leads to some mothers dropping out of the workforce altogether, contributing to the gap in earnings, while those who remain experience an earnings dip regardless. The effects plague women throughout their careers and beyond.

A Harvard study found that mothers are often less likely to be hired and then usually offered lower salaries than women without children. And a survey from TIAA finds that they have almost 30% less saved for retirement than men on average, in part due to choices regarding taking care of or providing for their children.

America's workforce continues to fail when it comes to supporting working moms, Pam Cohen, Ph.D., chief research and analytics officer at the Mom Project, told Fortune's Ivana Pino. “The need for support extends well beyond the limited early stages of parenthood and yet tends to drop off precipitously beyond that point in time at which mothers return from parental leave,” she said. 

It doesn't help that it's become extremely difficult to find affordable childcare. It's become so expensive that families spend almost a third of their household income on it. “The shortcomings of the child care system disproportionately affect the financial well-being of women, single parents, parents in poverty, families of color and immigrant families,” reads the Annie E. Casey Foundation in its KIDS COUNT Data Book, pointing to research from 2022 that showed how women were five to eight times more likely to have their careers be affected by caregiving duties in 2022. 

More affordable childcare has long been touted as a solution to the motherhood penalty in America. But that's only half the battle. Almond believes the solution begins with changing the culture that is rooted in sexism and the way we view the roles of mother and father. “Culture can and does change,” he said.

- ◆ -

注：完整选项看文章开头；中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考

含注释全文：

Not a single woman can escape the 'motherhood penalty'—even breadwinners, new study finds

From: Fortune

Many people say that parenthood is a priceless gift, but not everyone has to put their money where their mouth is—especially fathers. Much has been studied on the financial and professional hits women take when having a child, but new research that claims to have analyzed roughly 100 times the data that past studies have done on the topic hints at a main driving force behind the “motherhood penalty”— America's cultural stereotypes regarding work and parenthood.

很多人说，为人父母是一份无价的礼物，但并非每个人都要付诸实际行动，尤其是父亲们。虽然关于女性在生育孩子时所遭受的经济和职业打击已有大量研究，但最新研究声称利用了比先前研究多约100倍的数据进行分析，透露出“母职惩罚”背后的一大推动力是美国文化对工作和为人父母身份之间关系的刻板印象。

"Motherhood penalty"是一个社会学概念，指的是女性在成为母亲后可能在职场上面临的一系列负面影响，包括但不限于薪资减少、职业晋升机会减少、职业成就受限等。这种现象主要是由于社会对母亲角色的刻板印象和性别偏见，以及对母亲的特殊需求（如育儿假）的处理不当。

📍Motherhood penalty refers to the systematic disadvantages in wages, job opportunities, perceived competence, and benefits that working mothers often encounter compared to childless women. These disadvantages are attributed to societal stereotypes and biases about the roles and responsibilities of a mother, as well as inadequate support for balancing work and family responsibilities.

put your money where your mouth is表示“以实际行动支持；以行动证明自己的话”，英文解释为“to show by your actions and not just your words that you support or believe in something”

📍这个英语短语的中文意思大致为“不要只说不做，有本事就拿出行动来”，或者“言行一致”。这个短语用来鼓励或者挑战某人，如果他们真的相信他们所说的话，那么他们应该用实际行动来证明，而不仅仅是空谈。据ChatGPT，该表达最早出现在20世纪的美国。字面意思是，如果你相信你的观点或者预测，你应该愿意为此投入金钱。其含义源于赌博，如果你相信你会赢，你就应该下注。后来被广泛用于各种情况，不仅仅是赌博，用来鼓励人们用行动来支持他们的言辞。

表示“暗示，示意”，英文解释为“to suggest something in an indirect way, but so that someone can guess your meaning”举个🌰：What are you hinting at? 你在暗示什么？

stereotype /ˈster.i.ə.taɪp/表示“模式化形象；成见；刻板印象”，英文解释为“A stereotype is a fixed general image or set of characteristics that a lot of people believe represent a particular type of person or thing.”举个🌰：There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen. 对成功的商人们总有一种成见。

Douglas Almond, Yi Cheng, and Cecilia Machado examined more than 800,000 earnings reports from the U.S. unemployment insurance program during 1990 to 2010 to find how much women actually lose when they become mothers, examining different scenarios in which the motherhood penalty might be smaller. They called what they found “discouraging:” It hits all mothers in America, regardless of their pay, company, or education.

道格拉斯·阿尔蒙德（Douglas Almond）、程怡（Yi Cheng，音译）和塞西利亚·马查多（Cecilia Machado）对1990年至2010年间美国失业保险计划中的80多万份收入报告进行了研究，以了解女性在成为母亲后的实际损失。他们称自己的发现“令人沮丧”：不论薪酬、公司或受教育程度如何，美国所有的母亲都受到了影响。

insurance /ɪnˈʃɔː.rəns, ɪnˈʃʊə.rəns/ 表示“保险”，英文解释为“an agreement in which you pay a company money and they pay your costs if you have an accident, injury, etc.”如：life/health/car/travel insurance 人寿/健康/汽车/旅行保险。

scenario /sɪˈnɑːrɪˌəʊ/表示“场景；设想；可能的情况；可能发生的事态”，英文解释为“If you talk about a likely or possible scenario, you are talking about the way in which a situation may develop.”举个🌰：There are several possible scenarios. 有几种可能出现的局面。

discouraging /dɪˈskʌr.ɪ.dʒɪŋ/ 表示“令人沮丧的”，英文解释为“making you feel less confident, enthusiastic, and positive about something, or less willing to do something”举个🌰：Despite the discouraging results, astronomers were not worried. 尽管结果令人沮丧，但天文学家并不担心。

And it happens almost instantaneously: Whereas the arrival of a firstborn child doesn't have any effect on a man's earnings, moms experience a 51% dock in pay, equivalent to an average of $8,000 annually. The motherhood penalty only persisted as the child aged; researchers found that six years after the first child's birth, the pay gap between father and mother increased slightly.

而且，这种影响几乎是瞬间发生的：当第一个孩子出生时，这并不会对男性的收入产生任何影响，但母亲的收入则会减少51%，相当于平均每年减少8000美元。母职惩罚只会随着孩子年龄的增长而持续；研究人员发现，第一个孩子出生后六年，父母之间的收入差距略有扩大。

instantaneously /ˌɪn.stənˈteɪ.ni.əs.li/ 表示“瞬间地，即刻地”，英文解释为“in a way that happens immediately, without any delay”举个🌰：Participants in chat rooms respond instantaneously to each other. 聊天室中的参与者可以立即相互回应。

作动词，1）表示“（使宇宙飞船在外层空间）对接”，英文解释为“if two spacecraft dock , or are docked , they are joined together in space”举个🌰：Next year, a technology module will be docked on the space station. 明年将有一个技术舱与航天站对接。

2）日本吉野家董事发表歧视女性言论引众怒文中提到，dock还可以表示“克扣，扣发（尤指金钱）”，英文解释为“to remove part of something”举个🌰：As a punishment, they docked the soldiers' pay/wages by 20% and took away their leave. 作为惩罚，他们扣发了士兵们20%的工资并取消了他们的休假。

📍此处引申作名词。

1）作形容词，表示“（价值、数量、意义、重要性等）相等的，相同的”，英文解释为“equal in value, amount, meaning, importance, etc.”举个🌰：Eight kilometres is roughly equivalent to five miles. 八公里约等于五英里。

2）作名词，表示“相等的东西；等量；对应词”，英文解释为“a thing, amount, word, etc. that is equivalent to sth else”。

比如，提到Weibo时候会介绍为中国版的Twitter，常见的有几种说法：

🧣Weibo, China's Twitter-like service (SCMP)

🧣Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter (NPR NEWS)

🧣Twitter-like Weibo (Reuters)

🧣Weibo, a Twitter-like platform (NYT)

1) 表示“继续存在（发生）”，英文解释为“If something bad persists, it continues to exist or happen”举个🌰：If the pain persists, you must see a doctor. 如果一直痛，你就必须去看医生了。

2) 表示“坚持；执意”，英文解释为“to continue to do something, although this is difficult, or other people oppose it”举个🌰：‘I don't think it's right,’ He persisted. “我认为那不对。”他坚持说道。

It didn't matter if the mother worked for a woman or at a mostly woman-dominant firm. It also didn't matter the size of the company the mother worked for. Or if she went to college. And it didn't matter if the mother also happened to be the breadwinner in the family.

这种影响与母亲是为女性工作，还是在女性为主导的公司工作无关。和所工作公司规模大小，或者是否上过大学也无关。就算母亲恰好是家庭主要经济来源，也没有让这种影响产生变化。

1）表示“首要的；占支配地位的；占优势的；显著的”，英文解释为“more important, powerful or noticeable than other things”举个🌰：The firm has achieved a dominant position in the world market. 这家公司在国际市场上占有举足轻重的地位。

2）表示“（基因）显性的，优势的”，英文解释为“a dominant gene causes a person to have a particular physical characteristic, for example brown eyes, even if only one of their parents has passed on this  gene”。

🎬电影《王牌特工：特工学院》（Kingsman: The Secret Service）中的台词提到：but a Kingsman wears it on whichever hand happens to be dominant. 但王牌特工都戴在惯用手上。

breadwinner /ˈbredˌwɪn.ər/ 表示“养家糊口的人”，英文解释为“the member of a family who earns the money that the family needs”

“What's striking about the U.S. motherhood penalty is how universal it seems,” Almond tells Fortune. “Even when the female partner outearns her male partner and we might expect the lower-paid dad to 'step up' at home, we find a still larger motherhood penalty: around 60% of earnings.”

“美国母职惩罚普遍存在的事实令人震惊，”阿尔蒙德在接受《财富》（Fortune）采访时表示。“即使女性收入高于男性伴侣，我们本可以预期低收入的男性会在家庭中发挥更大的作用，但我们发现母职惩罚影响更大：约占收入的60%。”

1）表示“异乎寻常的，惊人的；引人注目的；显著的；不同寻常的”，英文解释为“Something that is striking is very noticeable or unusual.”举个🌰：The most striking feature of those statistics is the high proportion of suicides. 那些统计数据最显著的特征是高自杀率。

2）表示“俊秀的；妩媚动人的；很有魅力的”，英文解释为“Someone who is striking is very attractive, in a noticeable way.”举个🌰：She was a striking woman with long blonde hair. 她曾是一个留着金色长发的俊秀女子。

表示“普遍的；全体的；共同的”，英文解释为“existing everywhere or involving everyone”如：a universal truth 普遍真理。

表示“收入更多，收入超过”，英文解释为“to earn more money than someone else”

In Sweden, by contrast, Almond says there is no motherhood penalty when the woman outearns her male partner. “The Swedish pattern makes more economic sense—the man likely has a lower opportunity cost,” he added, referring to the country's different cultural expectations.

相比之下，阿尔蒙德表示，在瑞典，当女性比男性伴侣收入高时，就不会出现母职惩罚。“瑞典的模式更具经济学意义——男性的机会成本可能更低，”他指的是瑞典不同的文化期望。

“There is a culture of U.S. dads not contributing as much childcare as in other countries,” he said, pointing to his own experience as a father. While based in New York City, his wife is Swedish and their daughters have dual citizenship in the two countries. He said he was “always struck by how few dads were at playgrounds in New York City” and the assumption that he was just “filling in.” The difference is visible in Stockholm, he said, where “you see as many dads as moms caring for their children.”

“在美国，父亲在育儿方面的贡献不如其他国家多，”他说，并提到了自己作为父亲的经历。他在纽约工作，妻子是瑞典人，他们的女儿拥有两国的双重国籍。他说，他“总是惊讶地发现，纽约游乐场里很少有爸爸的身影”，而人们总认为他只是“临时代班”。而在斯德哥尔摩，这种差异就很明显了，他说，“你会看到有和妈妈一样多的爸爸在照顾孩子。”

assumption /əˈsʌmp.ʃən/ 表示“假定;假设;臆断”，英文解释为“something that you accept as true without question or proof”举个🌰：These calculations are based on the assumption that prices will continue to rise. 这些计算是基于价格会继续上升这一假定之上的。

fill in表示“代替;临时补缺”，英文解释为“to do someone else's work for them because they cannot or will not do it themselves”举个🌰：She will fill in for him while he's at the conference. 她会在他开会时代理他的工作。

It's this American stereotype—that child-rearing should fall on the mother—that leads to some mothers dropping out of the workforce altogether, contributing to the gap in earnings, while those who remain experience an earnings dip regardless. The effects plague women throughout their careers and beyond.

正是这种美国的刻板印象——育儿是母亲的责任——导致一些母亲完全离开职场，造成了收入上的差距，而那些继续工作的母亲也会经历收入下降。这种影响在女性整个职业生涯中持续存在。

作名词，表示“（通常指暂时的）减少，下降，衰退”，英文解释为“a decrease in the amount or success of sth, usually for only a short period”，如：a sharp dip in profits 利润急剧下降。

表示降低，减少的词经常出现，比如：

📍fall表示“（水平、数量、价格等，尤指较大幅度地）下跌，下降，降低”（to go down to a lower level, amount, price etc, especially a much lower one）

📍slide表示“（价格等）下滑，下跌”（if prices, amounts, rates etc slide, they become lower）

📍diminish表示“（使）减少，（使）减小”（to become or make something become smaller or less）

📍dwindle /ˈdwɪndəl/表示“逐渐减少，缩小，变小”（to gradually become less and less or smaller and smaller）举个🌰：The factory's workforce has dwindled from over 1,000 to a few hundred. 该厂的工人总数已从1000多减少到了几百人。

1）作名词可表示“瘟疫，疫病”，如：a fresh outbreak of plague 瘟疫的新一轮爆发；

2）作动词表示“不断困扰，折磨，使苦恼”，英文解释为“to cause pain, suffering, or trouble to someone, especially for a long period of time”，举个🌰 ：She was plagued by weakness, fatigue, and dizziness. 她受虚弱、疲劳和眩晕所折磨。

🎬电影《白宫管家》（The Butler）中的台词提到：It's time we take a stand against these injustices that have plagued our community. 现在是时候该表明立场和采取行动来对抗这些已困扰我们很久了的不公。

A Harvard study found that mothers are often less likely to be hired and then usually offered lower salaries than women without children. And a survey from TIAA finds that they have almost 30% less saved for retirement than men on average, in part due to choices regarding taking care of or providing for their children.

哈佛大学的一项研究发现，与没有孩子的女性相比，有孩子的女性往往更不容易被录用，而且薪水通常也更低。TIAA的一项调查发现，平均而言，她们的退休储蓄比男性少近30%，部分原因是她们选择了照顾或供养子女。

America's workforce continues to fail when it comes to supporting working moms, Pam Cohen, Ph.D., chief research and analytics officer at the Mom Project, told Fortune's Ivana Pino. “The need for support extends well beyond the limited early stages of parenthood and yet tends to drop off precipitously beyond that point in time at which mothers return from parental leave,” she said.

美国“妈妈计划”（Mom Project）首席研究和分析官帕姆·科恩（Pam Cohen）博士在接受《财富》记者伊万娜·皮诺（Ivana Pino）采访时表示，美国职场在支持职业妈妈方面仍然存在缺失。她说：“对支持的需求远不止于早期育儿阶段，但在母亲休完产假回来之后，这种支持往往急剧减少。”

1）表示“减少，下降”，英文解释为“If the amount, number, or quality of something drops off, it becomes less.”举个🌰：The demand for mobile phones shows no signs of dropping off. 人们对手机的需求并未出现下降的迹象。

2）表示“入睡”，英文解释为“to start to sleep”

precipitously /prɪˈsɪp.ɪ.təs.li/ 表示“陡然地，险峻地”，英文解释为“in a way that is very steep；very quickly or suddenly”举个🌰：Cliffs often rise precipitously from the sea. 悬崖往往从海中陡然升起。

parental leave /pəˌren.təl ˈliːv/ 表示“亲子假，育儿假”，英文解释为“time that a parent is allowed to spend away from work to take care of his or her baby”

It doesn't help that it's become extremely difficult to find affordable childcare. It's become so expensive that families spend almost a third of their household income on it. “The shortcomings of the child care system disproportionately affect the financial well-being of women, single parents, parents in poverty, families of color and immigrant families,” reads the Annie E. Casey Foundation in its KIDS COUNT Data Book, pointing to research from 2022 that showed how women were five to eight times more likely to have their careers be affected by caregiving duties in 2022.

要找到负担得起的托儿服务变得极其困难，进一步加剧了问题。托儿服务极其昂贵，以至于几乎需要将近三分之一的家庭收入花在上面。“托儿体系的不足对女性、单亲父母、贫困父母、有色人种家庭和移民家庭的经济状况造成极大的影响，”安妮·凯西基金会在其《KIDS COUNT数据手册》中写道，并指出2022年的一项研究显示，2022年女性职业生涯受到看护职责影响的可能性增加了5到8倍。

表示“不成比例地；不相称地；太大（或太小）地”，英文解释为“too large or too small when compared with sth else”举个🌰：The lower-paid spend a disproportionately large amount of their earnings on food. 低工资者将收入花在食物上的比例很大。

表示“写着，写的是；显示”，英文解释为“(of something written or printed) to have or give the stated information or meaning”举个🌰：The start of the article reads "LearnAndRecord..." 文章的开头是这样写的：“LearnAndRecord…”。

More affordable childcare has long been touted as a solution to the motherhood penalty in America. But that's only half the battle. Almond believes the solution begins with changing the culture that is rooted in sexism and the way we view the roles of mother and father. “Culture can and does change,” he said.

长期以来，更经济实惠的托儿服务一直被认为是解决美国母职惩罚问题的一种方案。但这只解决了一半。阿尔蒙德认为，要解决这个问题，首先要改变根深蒂固的性别歧视文化以及我们看待母亲和父亲角色的方式。“文化可以改变，也确实在改变，”他说。

表示“标榜；吹捧；吹嘘”，英文解释为“to try to persuade people that sb/sth is important or valuable by praising them/it”举个🌰：A local car dealership was touting its services/wares on the radio. 一家地方汽车特许经销商正在当地电台作宣传。

🎬电影《大谎言家》（Big Fat Liar）中的台词提到：Big Fat Liar is already being touted as next summer's must-see movie event. 《大谎言家》已被誉为明年夏天必看的电影。

表示“成功了一半；完成最困难的部分”，英文解释为“to be the most difficult part of a process so that once you have finished this part, you have almost succeeded”举个🌰：For a lot of jobs, getting an interview is half the battle. 对于很多工作职位来说，获得面试的机会就是成功了一半。

sexism /ˈsek.sɪ.zəm/ 表示“性别主义；（尤指对女性的）性别歧视，性别偏见”，英文解释为“(actions based on) the belief that the members of one sex are less intelligent, able, skilful, etc. than the members of the other sex, especially that women are less able than men”

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