首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Lessons from a Feminist Paradise [A]On the surface, Sweden appears to be a feminist paradise. Look at any global survey of gende
Lessons from a Feminist Paradise [A]On the surface, Sweden appears to be a feminist paradise. Look at any global survey of gende
admin
2014-07-25
22
问题
Lessons from a Feminist Paradise
[A]On the surface, Sweden appears to be a feminist paradise. Look at any global survey of gender equality and Sweden will be near the top. Family-friendly policies are its norm—with 16 months of paid parental leave, special protections for part-time workers, and state-subsidized preschools where, according to a government website, "gender-awareness education is increasingly common. " Due to an unofficial quota system, women hold 45 percent of positions in the Swedish parliament. They have enjoyed the protection of government agencies with titles like the Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality and the Secretariat of Gender Research. So why are American women so far ahead of their Swedish counterparts in breaking through the glass ceiling?
[B]In a 2012 report, the World Economic Forum found that when it comes to closing the gender gap in " economic participation and opportunity," the United States is ahead of not only Sweden but also Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Iceland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Sweden’s rank in the report can largely be explained by its political quota system. Though the United States has fewer women in the workforce(68 percent compared to Sweden’s 77 percent), American women who choose to be employed are far more likely to work full-time and to hold high-level jobs as managers or professionals. They also own more businesses, launch more start-ups(新创办的企业),and more often work in traditionally male fields. As for breaking through the glass ceiling in business, American women are well in the lead.
[C]What explains the American advantage? How can it be that societies like Sweden, where gender equality is vigorously pursued and enforced, have fewer female managers, executives, professionals, and business owners than the laissez-faire(自由放任的)United States? A new study by Cornell economists Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn gives an explanation.
[D]Generous parental leave policies and readily available part-time options have unintended consequences: instead of strengthening women’s attachment to the workplace, they appear to weaken it. In addition to a 16-month leave, a Swedish parent has the right to work six hours a day(for a reduced salary)until his or her child is eight years old. Mothers are far more likely than fathers to take advantage of this law. But extended leaves and part-time employment are known to be harmful to careers—for both genders. And with women a second factor comes into play: most seem to enjoy the flexible-time arrangement(once known as the "mommy track")and never find their way back to full-time or high-level employment. In sum: generous family-friendly policies do keep more women in the labor market, but they also tend to diminish their careers.
[E]According to Blau and Kahn, Swedish-style paternal(父亲的)leave policies and flexible-time arrangements pose a second threat to women’s progress: they make employers cautious about hiring women for full-time positions at all. Offering a job to a man is the safer bet. He is far less likely to take a year of parental leave and then return on a reduced work schedule for the next eight years.
[F]I became aware of the trials of career-focused European women a few years ago when I met a post-doctoral student from Germany who was then a visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins. She was astonished by the professional possibilities afforded to young American women. Her best hope in Germany was a government job—prospects for woment in the private sector were dim. " In Germany," she told me,"we have all the benefits, but employers don’t want to hire us. "
[G]Swedish economists Magnus Henrekson and Mikael Stenkula addressed the following question in their 2009 study: why are there so few female top executives in the European egalitarian(平等主义的)welfare states? Their answer; "Broad-based welfare-state policies hinder women’s representation in elite competitive positions. "
[H]It is tempting to declare the Swedish policies regressive(退步的)and hail the American system as superior. But that would be shortsighted. The Swedes can certainly take a lesson from the United States and look for ways to clear a path for their ambitious female careerists. But most women are not committed careerists. When the Pew Research Center recently asked American parents to identify their "ideal" life arrangement, 47 percent of mothers said they would prefer to work part-time and 20 percent said they would prefer not to work at all. Fathers answered differently: 75 percent preferred full-time work. Some version of the Swedish system might work well for a majority of American parents, but the United States is unlikely to fully embrace the Swedish model. Still, we can learn from their experience.
[I]Despite its failure to shatter the glass ceiling, Sweden has one of the most powerful and innovative economies in the world. In its 2011-2012 survey, the World Economic Forum ranked Sweden as the world’s third most competitive economy; the United States came in fifth. Sweden, dubbed the "rockstar of the recovery" in the Washington Post, also leads the world in life satisfaction and happiness. It is a society well worth studying, and its efforts to conquer the gender gap impart a vital lesson—though not the lesson the Swedes had in mind.
[J]Sweden has gone farther than any other nation on earth to integrate the sexes and to offer women the same opportunities and freedoms as men. For decades, these descendants of the Vikings have been trying to show the world that the right mix of enlightened policy, consciousness raising, and non-sexist child rearing would close the gender divide once and for all. Yet the divide persists.
[K]A 2012 press release from Statistics Sweden bears the title "Gender Equality in Sweden Treading(踩)Water"and notes:
The total income from employment for all ages is lower for women than for men.
One in three employed women and one in ten employed men work part-time.
Women’s working time is influenced by the number and age of their children, but men’s working time is not affected by these factors.
Of all employees, only 13 percent of the women and 12 percent of the men have occupations with an even distribution of the sexes.
[L]Confronted with such facts, some Swedish activists and legislators are demanding more extreme and far-reaching measures, such as replacing male and female pronouns with a neutral alternative and monitoring children more closely to correct them when they gravitate(被吸引)toward gendered play. When it came to light last year that mothers, far more than fathers, chose to stay home from work to care for their sick kids, Ulf Kristersson, minister of social security, quickly commissioned a study to determine the causes of and possible cures for this disturbing state of affairs.
[M]Swedish family policies, by accommodating women’s preferences effectively, are reducing the number of women in elite competitive positions. The Swedes will find this paradoxical and try to find solutions. Let us hope these do not include banning gender pronouns, policing children’s play, implementing more gender quotas, or treating women’s special attachment to home and family as a social injustice. Most mothers do not aspire to(向往)elite, competitive full-time positions: the Swedish policies have given them the freedom and opportunity to live the lives they prefer. Americans should look past the gender rhetoric and consider what these Scandinavians have achieved. On their way to creating a feminist paradise, the Swedes have unintentionally created a haven(避风港)for normal mortals.
Gender-awareness education is becoming more and more popular in state-subsidized preschools in Sweden.
选项
答案
A
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/8Em7777K
0
大学英语六级
相关试题推荐
Oneofthemostcontroversialissuesinthevastliteratureaboutalcoholconsumptionhasbeentheconsistentfindingthatthose
在早期的皇权时代,书法和绘画是上层社会最为尊崇的艺术,大部分是由业余爱好者创作的,这些业余爱好者通常是有充足的闲暇时间对笔法和画法进行完善技术和鉴赏的贵族和士大夫。书法被认为是最高等、最纯洁的绘画形式。晋朝时,人们开始欣赏绘画的美丽,开始写关于艺术的东西。
中国把转变增长方式作为战略重点(strategicfocalpoint),努力使经济增长建立在提高人口素质、高效利用资源、减少环境污染、注重质量效益的基础上。中国坚持以信息化(ITindustry)带动工业化,以工业化促进信息化,走新型工业化道路,加
网络教育在中国发展得十分缓慢,尽管这个国家拥有全世界最多的网民,并且拥有最大的智能手机市场。上市教育公司因为在募集稳定的现金流方面面临压力,所以在投资互联网运营这一块进行得很慢。另一个原因是中国的教育系统本身。中国的应试教育意味着比起美国教育系统的广泛兴趣
如今,杂志产业有了巨大的发展,延伸到各个可以想象得到的领域,以满足人们的各种兴趣。有周刊杂志,它主要涉及时事报道;还有月刊杂志,它们的制作更精美,每月发行一次。大多数杂志都是专注于某一特定兴趣领域,举例来说,女性杂志包含的都是女人特别感兴趣的文章。同样。也
Thecontinuouspresentationofscarystoriesaboutglobalwarminginthepopularmediamakesusunnecessarilyfrightened.Evenw
Thecontinuouspresentationofscarystoriesaboutglobalwarminginthepopularmediamakesusunnecessarilyfrightened.Evenw
Today,moreandmorepeopleintheUnitedStatesareusingcreditcardsinsteadofmoneytobuythethingstheyneed.Almostany
A、Youngpeoplewhowanta21stcentury-designedhouse.B、O1dpeoplewhowantatraditionalwayoflife.C、Youngpeoplewhodono
A、Inthemanager’soffice.B、Atagarage.C、Inawatchstore.D、Inthewoman’shouse.C
随机试题
持久状况下的港口工程黏性土坡的复合滑动面法稳定验算,当采用有效应力法时,抗力分项系数γR取为()。
税务、人民银行、证券监管等部门有权依照有关规定,对有关单位的会计资料实施监督检查。
战略性人力资源管理将组织的注意力集中于()。
信用工具的票面收益与其市场价格的比率是()。
下列分测验中,不属于WISC—CR替代测验的是()。
有一张面额为100元的股票,当股息为20元时,价格为400元,如果银行存款年利息率不变,股息为40元时,则该股票价格应为()。
面对全面建成小康社会决胜阶段复杂的国内外形势,面对当前经济社会发展的新趋势、新机遇、新矛盾、新挑战,党的十八届五中全会坚持以人民为发展的指导思想,鲜明地提出了创新、协调、绿色、开放、共享的发展理念。创新、协调、绿色、开放、共享的发展理念()
下列关于ADSL技术的说法中错误的是()。
CarsaccountforhalftheoilconsumedintheU.S.,abouthalftheurbanpollutionandonefourththegreenhousegases.Theyta
NarratorListentoapartofalecturefromtheSportsStudiesdepartment.WhydoestheprofessorsaythisΩ?
最新回复
(
0
)