Women and work
Why Germany’s pay gap is so large
BERLIN
Women are more likely to work part-time—especially in the west
既然不能发表政治相关文章，今天来看看女权：
“Revolutionary” is not a word that often escapes Angela Merkel’s lips. Yet on March 8th, international women’s day, that was how Germany’s chancellor described the change she had observed in men’s attitudes to balancing work and family. This matters in a country that can still deride Rabenmütter (“Raven mothers”), women who supposedly neglect children for career. But on another measure of equality—pay—Germany is lagging.
Escape one’s lips :Speak unintentionally or unexpectedly
类似于中文中的说漏嘴。
Angela Merkel is Germany’s chancellor .
chancellor noun /ˈtʃɑːn.səl.ər/ 总理
deride verb /dɪˈraɪd/
to laugh at someone or something in a way that
shows you think they are stupid or of no value 嘲笑，讥笑
The term "Rabenmutter," or "raven mother," is used to refer to absent moms of the human species. They may give up their children for adoption or neglect them.
Germany is lagging in the equal pay.
The median hourly wage for German women is €17.09 ($19.31), 21% less than men’s €21.60. In the European Union, only Estonia has a wider gap. But the raw numbers can mislead. Adjust for sector, skills, age and other factors, and the gap plummets to 6-7%. Women are likelier than men to work in badly paid service jobs; two-thirds of shop assistants are female. Almost half of working women are part-time (compared with 9% of men) and so tend not to climb the career ladder as fast. Katharina Wrohlich at the German Institute for Economic Research notes that some countries with lower pay gaps, such as Italy, have far fewer women working. Women who earn low wages drag down the average; those who earn nothing are not counted.
median adjective /ˈmiː.di.ən/
The median value is the middle one in a set of values
arranged in order of size.中间的，居中的；中位数的
Estonia noun /esˈtəʊ.ni.ə/
a country in northeastern Europe
raw adjective /rɔː/
A piece of writing that is raw is one that does not try to hide anything about its subject.
（文字）不加掩饰的，如实坦陈的，反映真实情况的
sector noun /ˈsek.tər/
one of the areas into which the economic activity of a country is divided 部门，领域，行业
plummet verb /ˈplʌm.ɪt/
to fall very quickly and suddenly暴跌，急剧下降
the hourly wage of women is less than men in German.
Yet the adjusted figures leave something out, too. Which career to follow, and whether to work part-time, are individual choices. Yet they are influenced by tax and benefit rules, education and child-care policy, and social norms. Ensuring equal pay for equal work would not, in itself, make Germany’s boardrooms less male, or get more women into well-paid sectors.
leave sb/sth out /liːv/
to not include someone or something除去；撇开；忽略
boardroom noun /ˈbɔːd.ruːm/
a room where the people who control a company or
organization meet董事会会议室
In the former East Germany, the unadjusted pay gap between men and women is minuscule. In some areas, women earn more. This is partly explained by the lack of industrial giants in the east. Germany’s pay gap yawns widest in the humming southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, where men dominate lucrative technical and manufacturing jobs. In the east the public sector, where women do better, employs more people. History counts, too. The old communist regime cajoled women to work outside the home, and started a tradition of state-backed child care that persists. East German women have long been more likely to work than westerners, although the figures are converging.
minuscule adjective /ˈmɪn.ə.skjuːl/
extremely small微小的，极小的
yawn / jɔːn / verb
to be or become wide open, especially in a frightening way
the yawning gap between the two cliffs
hum verb /hʌm/
to be busy and full of activity, excitement, sounds, or voices忙乱，忙碌；嘈杂
The bar was really humming last night.
昨晚酒吧里一片乱哄哄的。
lucrative adjective /ˈluː.krə.tɪv/
(especially of a business, job, or activity) producing a lot of money（尤指生意、职位或活动）赚钱的，盈利的
cajole verb /kəˈdʒəʊl/
to persuade someone to do something they might not want
to do, by pleasant talk and (sometimes false) promises
劝诱；哄骗，诱骗
converge verb /kənˈvɜːdʒ/
If ideas and opinions converge, they gradually become
similar.（观点等）趋于一致，趋同
East German women are more likely to work than westerners.
The pay gap has almost vanished for full-time workers under 30, the average age for new mothers, but for those over 40 it has barely budged for three decades. The motherhood wage penalty is higher in Germany than in many rich countries; ten years after giving birth the average German mother earns almost two-thirds less than before, a far more precipitous drop than in countries with better child-care provision, such as Sweden or France. Tax rules and education practices, including schools that can close as early as noon, nudge large numbers of women into part-time work.
vanish verb /ˈvæn.ɪʃ/
to disappear or stop being present or existing, especially in a sudden, surprising way（尤指突然）消失，灭绝
budge verb/bʌdʒ/
If something will not budge or you cannot budge it, it will not move.（使）轻微移动
penalty noun /ˈpen.əl.ti/
a type of punishment, often involving paying money, that is given to you if you break an agreement or do not follow rules 罚金，罚款
precipitous adjective /prɪˈsɪp.ɪ.təs/
If a reduction or increase is precipitous, it is fast or great.骤然的，急剧的
nudge verb /nʌdʒ/
to push something 推动着
Geman mothers earn less than before and are nudged into part-time work by Tax rules and education practices.
Germany is changing. Since 2013 the state has guaranteed day care for children over 12 months (though finding a spot can be nightmarish). The minimum wage, which was introduced in 2015, disproportionally helped women. New transparency rules oblige big firms to explain pay decisions to curious staff. But much remains to be done, including chivvying men to take on more of the duties of parenting; just 36% of German fathers take paternity leave. The revolution is incomplete.
day care noun /ˈdeɪ ˌker/
care or education provided during the day, especially for
young children: 类似于中国的日托。
disproportionally: adverb /prəˈpɔːʃənəli/
不均衡的
oblige verb /əˈblaɪdʒ/
to force someone to do something, or to make it necessary for someone to do something
责成；强迫，迫使
chivvy verb /ˈtʃɪv.i/
to encourage someone to do something they do not want to do 催促；强求
paternity leave noun /pəˈtɜː.nɪ.ti ˌliːv/
a period of time that a father is legally allowed to be away from his job so that he can spend time with his new baby
陪产假（法律上允许父亲离开工作的一段时间，以便他可以照顾他的、新生的婴儿）
German is changing, but the revolution which is aimed to protect women remains to be done.
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